Ever wondered if your insurance policy would cover if you were sued for defamation for implying someone was a “douche bag?” Daniel Wise of the New York Law Journal reports:
Calling someone a “douche” may be bad manners but it does not give an insurance company grounds to disavow a policy protecting against defamation claims, a state judge has ruled. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Judith J. Gische ruled that because calling someone a “douche” or “douche bag” is an opinion, not a statement of provable fact, the Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Co. must pay the legal costs of public relations firm owner Drew Kerr, who was sued by a rival.
The insurance coverage dispute arose after Kerr, according to an affidavit he submitted, sought to criticize a technique used by a competitor, Ronn Torossian. Mimicking Torossian’s practice of purchasing domain names containing the names of competitors, Kerr purchased the domain “www.ronntorossianpr.” On the site was posted a photo of a package of “Summer’s Eve Douche.”
Read more on New York Law Journal.
The case is Four Corners Communications Inc. v. Graphic Arts Mutual Insurance Company (pdf).