Insurer won’t help accused ex-professor

Liberty Mutual may pay the full cost of replacing your damaged car, like it says in its ads with the Statue of Liberty in the background, but don’t ask it to defend you in a sexual-harassment complaint.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the insurer wants a court to declare that it isn’t liable to help former Ohio University English professor Andrew Escobedo, who is accused of inappropriately touching several female students at an end-of-thesemester gathering at two Athens bars in December 2015, writes Dispatch Federal Courts Reporter Earl Rinehart.

The women contend that Escobedo, 50, made unwanted sexual advances and groped them and, when they rebuffed him, he reminded them that he had not given them their final grades. Two women sued Escobedo, the former chairman of the English department at the university.

A university investigation concluded earlier that Escobedo had sexually harassed the women.

Escobedo, whose resignation was effective Wednesday, denied any inappropriate behavior and requested that his homeowner’s policy cover him.

Liberty Mutual recognized its duty to cover “bodily injury” or “property damage” for a client, but not if it arises “out of sexual molestation, corporal punishment or physical or mental abuse.”

“Liberty Mutual has no duty to defend Mr. Escobedo,” the company concluded.

The company’s request, and the women’s lawsuit, are pending.