Certain Underwriters at Lloyds, London v. Magnolia Mgmt. Corp., 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 60635 (D. Miss. 2006)

Lloyds commenced the defense of a wrongful death case against the insured nursing home and various other entities. It did so under a reservation of rights. Later, when on of the employees pleaded guilty to manslaughter, Lloyds filed a declaratory judgment action alleging it had no duty to defend or indemnify because criminal acts committed by any insured are excluded. The court refused to allow Lloyds to rely on the guilty plea in establishing its policy defense. Instead Lloyds was required to produce independent evidence of the employee’s guilt and causation. Lloyds satisfied its burden and its motion was granted after establishing to a preponderance of the evidence that the employee, a nurse, was recklessly negligent by failing to monitor blood glucose levels for a brittle diabetic, and that autopsy reports, along with witness statements from the week preceding her death, established to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that the resident died of hyperglycemia, due to diabetes.