The legal principle of sovereign immunity, which makes governmental bodies and employees immune from being sued in their own courts without governmental consent, was the center of a case recently decided in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The court needed to decide if the defendant, a commission in a political subdivision of Missouri that dispatched emergency services in the county, would be allowed to claim sovereign immunity or if that claim would be prevented by a general liability insurance policy held by the commission.
The plaintiffs in the case insured, owned and operated grocery stores, one of which was operating in the jurisdiction of the defendant county. A security alarm panel was located at the defendant’s premises and was monitored directly by the defendant’s employees. Individuals broke into the store and set a fire to avoid detection, but the defendant never reported an alarm to the plaintiff’s insured. The plaintiff paid its insured under the policy, but filed an action against the defendant claiming negligence and reckless, willful and wanton misconduct that resulted in the fire, causing damage to the store. The complaint alleged that the defendant was aware that the alarm monitoring panel was broken, yet had taken no steps to repair it.