Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance v. Sampson

This is another case which raises the scope of an insurer’s obligation to defend its insureds under a homeowners’ policy containing an automobile exclusion similar to the exclusions construed in Barnstable County Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. Lally, 374 Mass. 602 (1978), and in Worcester Mut. Ins. Co. v. Marnell, 398 Mass. 240 (1986). Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company (Company) successfully sought a declaration from a Superior Court judge that the automobile exclusion in the policy of its insureds, Paul and Susan Sampson, made it unnecessary for the Company to defend them against claims brought…