An insurer sought a declaration that its commercial general liability policy issued to a lamp shade manufacturing and importing business did not respond to a personal injury action arising from a forklift accident during the unloading of heavy industrial lathes.
The injured party alleged vicarious liability and occupier’s liability against the insured company.
The court applied the duty to defend test, accepting the allegations in the statement of claim but examining the true nature of the claim and the insured business operations described in the policy declaration.
The evidence showed the accident arose from the operations of a separate company engaged in buying and selling heavy machinery, an activity unrelated to the insured’s lamp shade business.
The court held there was no possibility that the claim fell within the policy’s coverage and therefore no duty to defend.
