The case is related to the 2009 kidnapping of Janet Jenkin's daughter, Isabella Miller-Jenkins, by her former partner, Lisa Miller.
From Right Wing Watch (8/15/12):
Yesterday Kenneth Miller was convicted of aiding an international parental kidnapping for the role he played in helping Lisa Miller (no relation) flee the country with her daughter rather than abide by a court order transferring custody to her former partner, Janet Jenkins.
But that was not the only interesting development in the case, as Jenkins has now filed a civil RICO lawsuit [PDF] against Kenneth Miller and several others who allegedly played a role in helping Lisa Miller kidnap her daughter and leave the country, including Liberty University Law School and Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Based on the foregoing, all of the Defendants named herein, in both their individual capacities and as agents of TRBC, Liberty University Law School, Response Unlimited, Inc., and CAM are liable for conspiring with Lisa Miller and with each other to kidnap Isabella Miller-Jenkins, assure her continued detention outside the State of Vermont, and for conspiring with Kenneth Miller to participate in the affairs of the Beachy Amish-Mennonite Brotherhood through a pattern of racketeering activity .. Defendants are also liable for conspiring to violate Janet Jenkins' and Isabella Miller-Jenkins' rights to a parent-child relationship on account oflsabella having two mothers instead of a mother and a father, and Defendant Wright is liable under 42 U.S.C. 1986 for failing to prevent the violation of Plaintiffs' civil rights.
Attorneys for Liberty University say that their insurance coverage should compel the insurance companies to defend against this sort of claim and pay for any fees and/or damages. So, they sued the insurance companies (Citizens Insurance Company Of America; Hanover American Insurance Company; Hanover Insurance Company). They won in district court, however the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has reversed that ruling and remanded the case back to the district court.
From the ruling:
Faced with the Jenkins Complaint, Appellee turned to Appellant, seeking to have Appellant defend the lawsuit on its behalf. When Appellant refused, Appellee filed a complaint in district court, requesting a declaration of its right to a defense and an award of damages for costs and fees it had already incurred defending against the Jenkins Complaint. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The district
court granted summary judgment in favor of Appellee, holding Appellant had a duty to defend and awarding defense costs.
We conclude otherwise. Because the Jenkins Complaint does not allege an “occurrence,” and because it triggers the policy’s coverage exclusions, Appellant has no duty to defend.
From
JMG:
On the same day in 2012 that a preacher was found guilty of abetting the kidnapping of her daughter to Nicaragua, lesbian mom Janet Jenkins filed a RICO lawsuit against many of the parties suspected of conspiring in the crime, including Liberty University, the parent of the vile anti-gay hate group Liberty Counsel, whose president Mat Staver is specifically named in the suit. Today the ACLU reports that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a lower court's ruling that Liberty University's liability insurance policy covers such lawsuits.
The ruling is
here.
