Obscenity Allegations and the CGL Form

Q

Is it possible that a claim arising from obscenity could be covered by a commercial general liability policy? Assume the following scenario. A book containing considerable obscenity is distributed to book stores, including our insured book store. Although there are ample, large, and obvious warnings on the cover of the book that it is unsuitable for and should not be sold to minors, an underage youth manages to purchase a copy of the book from our insured's store. The youth subsequently commits a brutal act, injuring several people. The youth maintains as his defense that he purchased the book from the insured's book store, read it, and was driven as a direct result of the material contained in the book to commit the attack. The victims of the attack sue our insured (among others) and our insured looks to his CGL form for coverage. Will the CGL form respond to the claims?

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