The costs associated with defending himself in court are piling up and a home policy will likely pay for much of it.
When defending oneself in court in several sexual assault and defamation cases, the legal bill can rapidly rise and Bill Cosby is using his homeowners insurance coverage to help him to pay for these expenses.
This method of footing the bill for legal fees has come to quite a surprise to many though it is not necessarily uncommon.
That said, Cosby has been facing lawsuits across three states filed by ten women. The bills for these cases are significant. The company providing the homeowners insurance coverage for the celebrity is American International Group. That insurance company has also taken Cosby to court as it seeks to deny him the payments. Their argument is that they should not be required to cover claims that are the result of alleged acts of sexual misconduct.
That said, in the cases in order to be able to keep his insurance coverage, Bill Cosby appears to be on the winning side.
From the Federal District Court in Los Angeles, Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell had set a ruling in November 2015 in favor of Cosby, explaining that “The court finds that plaintiff has a duty to defend.” Though many are surprised by the fact that homeowners insurance is the type of coverage that may be paying for the celebrity’s cases, this is not unheard of when it comes to the type of coverage that is carried by millions of wealthy and affluent homeowners.
These individuals know of the risk of being sued and they carry the additional liability insurance protection in order to ensure that their court costs will be covered. For instance, Bill Clinton, O.J. Simpson, and Roger Clemens all have all used the personal injury coverage from their home insurance in order to pay for lawsuits filed against them.
Although the standard form of homeowners insurance coverage includes bodily injury in the sense that if someone slips on your icy walkway, you’ll have some financial protection if they should sue. However, many wealthy policyholders choose to upgrade their protection to include cover for a broad spectrum other situations.
