Insurer Says It’s Not Responsible for TB Lawyer Tort Claims
The company that provided homeowners’ insurance for Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer who traveled despite a tuberculosis diagnosis, claims in a lawsuit it is not responsible for tort claims against him.
USAA Insurance asserts in a petition for declaratory judgment that it has no responsibility for damages in a Canadian lawsuit filed by passengers who traveled with Speaker on a Czech Airlines flight, according to the Fulton County Daily Report. The company says it will mount a conditional defense to the suit.
Speaker, acting as his own lawyer, has filed a response to the lawsuit that says it has no legal or scientific basis. Only one passenger tested affirmative for TB, and the diagnosis within six days of the flight shows the disease was not caused by exposure to him, Speaker says. That’s because it takes at least two weeks after exposure for a TB test to indicate the disease.
