Insurance company files motion against ZombiCon victims

Published: Updated:
Zombicon

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Victims of the October 2015 ZombiCon shooting who are suing event organizers may not receive a dime.

Scottsdale Insurance Company, the insurance company for Pushing Daizies and the ZombiCon event, filed a federal lawsuit claiming because the shooting was intentional, event organizers are not covered under their policy.

On the night of Oct. 17, a bullet shattered bones in both of David Perez’s hands. His girlfriend, Kaddiamy Baruh, suffered minor injuries while standing next to him.

Florida Gulf Coast University student Kyle Roberts had a bullet lodged in his hand for days.

Twenty-year-old Tyrell Taylor lost his life.

Perez, Roberts, and Taylor’s family are all suing Pushing Daizies and Southwest Florida Security and Investigations, the security company hired for the event, following the shooting.

“We’ve said we believe you both were negligent, and you need to compensate our victims,” said attorney Scot Goldberg who represents Roberts.

Earlier this month, Scottsdale Insurance decided to fight back.

“This insurance company filed a Dec Action, said ‘stop everything, we want to know if we can get out of this, we don’t want to pay anything,'” Goldberg explained.

The company says there is an assault or battery exclusion in Pushing Daizies’ insurance policy for the event.

“Scottsdale wants to say that ‘we aren’t giving you anything,'” Goldberg said.

A judge or jury will decide whether Scottsdale Insurance will have to pay the shooting victims.

“Being a nonprofit, the likelihood that our clients would ever see anything from Pushing Daizies without an insurance company behind it is not very likely,” Goldberg said.

An arrest has yet to be made in the shooting and Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers says it has not received any new tips in the shooting for months.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.