March
2026
Gfeller Laurie Co-Founding Partner Robert Laurie Obtains Summary Judgment in Federal Court Coverage Action
Attorneys Robert Laurie and Anthony Biraglia recently obtained summary judgment in the United States District Court, Massachusetts, in a case involving claims for insurance coverage made by certain celebrity plaintiffs who were seeking payment for a judgment obtained against the insured adult entertainment businesses for various statutory and common law violations resulting from the insureds’ use of the celebrities’ respective images and likenesses in almost 100 advertisements on the insureds’ websites, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), and Facebook pages. In its decision, the Court agreed that several of the celebrity plaintiffs failed to raise a question of fact that the insured businesses posted advertisements using their likeness during the relevant policy periods, such that coverage under the policies was not triggered. For the remaining plaintiffs, the Court agreed that an intellectual property exclusion contained within the relevant policies applied to preclude coverage. The Court’s decision may be found here.
