ST. LOUIS — An insurance company was ordered Friday to pay $10 million to a mother whose 16-year-old son was shot and killed outside a nightclub in 2010.
According to a news release from the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, nine of 12 members of a St. Louis jury found that Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London, which insured the former Pulse nightclub in north St. Louis, must pay Latronya Adams over the killing of her son, Orlando Willis.
According to previous reporting from 5 On Your Side, nine teenagers were shot on Christmas night outside the nightclub located at 8370 N. Broadway. Willis was killed along with 17-year-old Ranisha Cole.
Adams claimed the club's operators were negligent by inviting minors to help set up and promote an adults-only event, the court said. She sued more than a decade ago, and in 2014 she settled with the nightclub's landlord for $1 million and was awarded $5 million by a St. Louis judge at a bench trial. Later that year, Adams sued to force the insurance firm to pay.
The company's lawyers argued during this week's trial that the business owner's policy included an "assault and battery" exclusion allowing it to deny coverage, the circuit court said. Adams' lawyers argued the insurer failed to investigate her claims and acted in bad faith by refusing to settle.
Punitive damages account for half of the $10 million sum.
