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Judge: Insurer Not Liable for Knight's Damages
By Richard D. Walton
IndyStar
Former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight's insurance company is not liable for damages he incurred as the result of a confrontation with an assistant, a Marion Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday.
The Indiana Insurance Co. refused to defend Knight against allegations in a lawsuit filed by ex-assistant coach Ron Felling, who claimed an angry Knight physically accosted him during a December 1999 meeting. The contact was described by other assistant coaches in the room as a push or a "bump."
Knight settled with Felling in 2002 for $25,000 and a public admission that he shoved him.
In 2004, Knight sued Indiana Insurance and IU, seeking his defense expenses, including attorneys' fees and damages paid.
Judge David Dreyer found that Knight's policy excluded coverage for bodily harm that is "expected or intended." That means "an action made with actual intent to cause harm, or at least a conscious awareness that the harm was practically certain to occur."
"The evidence shows nothing less than an obviously deliberate and angry physical contact from Knight upon Felling," the decision reads.
Knight's claim against IU is set for trial in October.
Knight can probably afford the settlement.
IU fired Knight in 2000. He signed a contract with Texas Tech in 2001, which, after a 2004 extension, runs through 2009. His base salary is $300,000, but his annual compensation package is worth an estimated $1 million.
In 2004-05, as promised, Knight accepted only $90,000 of his base salary after a disappointing season.
The coach's IU salary was $163,118. He received $283,000 in salary payments from IU for the last two years of his contract. Since leaving IU, Knight also received more than $1 million in deferred compensation.
Copyright 2006 IndyStar.com. All rights reserved.
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