Christopher N. Valente

The individual insurance broker brought a Rule 21 motion to strike the statement of claim against him in an action alleging negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, misrepresentation, and breach of contract arising from alleged failure to obtain adequate insurance coverage.

The court held that employees may be personally liable only where their conduct is independently tortious or sufficiently distinct from the employer’s conduct.

The pleading contained undifferentiated allegations against “the broker and/or” the individual employee and failed to identify specific acts attributable to the employee.

As the material facts supporting personal liability were not properly pleaded, the claim against the individual broker disclosed no reasonable cause of action.

The claim against the employee was therefore struck, with leave to amend.

The applicants sought a declaration that their insurer owed a duty to defend them in an underlying action brought by their landlord alleging damage caused by a spill of waste oil at leased premises.

The landlord claimed clean‑up costs, repair expenses, and economic losses from delayed re‑leasing.

The insurer denied coverage relying on a pollution exclusion in the commercial liability policy.

The court held that “property damage” in the policy included physical injury to real property and that all damages claimed flowed from the spill of a pollutant.

As the pollution exclusion applied, the insurer had no duty to defend.