An insurance company says it is not obligated to defend or indemnify the owners and managers of a Memphis apartment complex who are facing a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the fatal shooting of a 14-year old boy on their property in July 2023.

Surplus lines insurer Kinsale Insurance Co. has asked a Tennessee federal court to declare that an exclusion for bodily injury in its commercial general liability policy bars coverage. Kinsale insured the property owners, The Village Green and Ryman Family Holdings, and the property manager, Multi-South Management Services.

Kinsale had reserved its rights while providing defense for its insureds during the underlying wrongful death proceeding, but the insurer is now seeking a declaration that it is not obligated to provide coverage due to the exclusion.

LaQuincy Demontaye Martin, an invited guest, was shot and killed in the swimming pool area at The Residence at Village Green Apartments in Memphis. The shooting occurred after a man and woman unknown to Martin got into an altercation and a third unknown person started shooting. Martin, who was not a party to the altercation, was shot in the back as he ran from the pool area.

Martin’s mother, Tarsha Shanqenikia Smith, sued for wrongful death in June 2024, alleging that the property owners and managers “breached their duty of care and failed to provide adequate security for their tenants and guests, which resulted in the shooting and injuries” suffered by her son.

Smith’s complaint cites police records showing that there had been multiple shootings, assaults, thefts, murders and other acts of violence at the property prior to the July 2023 shooting and alleges there were no security gates or visible patrols.

Smith asserts claims for wrongful death, negligence, loss of consortium, and actions showing “an entire want of care” and “conscious indifference to consequences.” She is seeking $15 million in compensatory damages and $15 million as exemplary and punitive damages, in addition to court costs.

According to Kinsale, the owners first informed it of the lawsuit on June 12, 2024. On July 19, 2024, Kinsale sent reservation of rights correspondence to its insureds, raising potential exclusions to and defenses against coverage. In its reservation of rights letters, Kinsale expressly “reserved the right to withdraw its defense and deny coverage” in accordance with the policy’s terms, conditions, limitations, and exclusions.

Subject to its full reservation of rights, Kinsale agreed to provide an initial defense to the owners and managers.

The policy contains an Assault and Battery Exclusion, which Kinsale asserted in its reservation of rights letters to the insureds. This exclusion says that the insurance does not apply to any claim or suit for bodily injury arising out of or in any way involving “any actual or alleged assault, battery, harmful or offensive contact, or threat, whether provoked or unprovoked.”

According to Kinsale, this exclusion “applies to any claim or ‘suit’ regardless of whether assault, battery, harmful or offensive contact, or threat is the initial precipitating cause or is in any way a cause, and regardless of whether any other actual or alleged cause contributed concurrently, proximately, or in any sequence, including whether any actual or alleged ‘bodily injury’ arises out of a chain of events that includes any assault, battery, harmful or offensive conduct.”

The policy also includes a Duty to Defend Exclusion, which states that “where there is no coverage under this policy, there is no duty to defend.”

Kinsale claims that the mother’s lawsuit and all of its causes of action are “based on and arise out of” Martin being shot and killed in the swimming pool area of the property and that his injuries and resulting death constitute a “bodily injury” as defined in the policy. Consequently, there is no coverage under the policy, Kinsale maintains.

Kinsale’s filing for a declaratory judgment in its favor is before Judge Thomas L. Parker in the federal court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Smith’s wrongful death lawsuit is the Circuit Court of Shelby County.

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