OPINION
Appellants-defendants Phyllis Smith and Tammy and Stacy Wilson, Sr., (collectively, the Wilsons) individually and as the parents and natural guardians of Stacy Wilson, Jr., (Stacy) appeal the declaratory judgment entered in favor of appellee-plaintiff Farmers Insurance Exchange 1 (Farmers Insurance). Specifically, they claim that the trial court erred in determining that the insurance policy's "business pursuits" and "home care services" exclusions denied coverage of Stacy Wilson, Jr.'s injuries.
*147 FACTS
Smith retired from full-time employment sometime around 19983. After retiring, she began providing childcare in her home. Her name has been on a list of babysitters at Woodland School District for approximately fifteen years. In 1995 the Wilsons registered their son Stacy for school. The school secretary gave the Wilsons a list of prospective childeare providers that included Smith. Tammy telephoned Smith, met with her, and then arranged for Smith to watch Stacy and his younger sister So-sha. That year Stacy attended half-day kindergarten, so he required only half-day childcare. Because Sosha was not yet attending kindergarten, she required full-day childeare.
The following school year, 1996-97, Smith continued to watch the Wilson children. During that school year Sosha was in half-day kindergarten, so Smith provided childcare for her approximately 30 hours per week. R. at 427. Smith also provided before- and after-school childcare for five other children: John and Jessica Roy, Mike and Travis Nolan, and Starla Roberts. These children were at Smith's an hour or so before the bus arrived in the morning and an hour or so after the bus dropped them off at Smith's. In general, Smith received payment for her childcare services in the amount of $55 per week for the Wilson children, $25 per week for Mike and Travis Nolan, and $15 per week for John and Jessica Roy. She did not receive payment for watching Starla.
On the morning of May 6, 1997, Smith was providing childcare services for the Wilson children and other children, including John Roy. That same morning John Roy threw a lawn dart which struck Stacy in the head. At the time of Stacey's injury, Smith was insured under a homeowners policy with Farmers Insurance. When the Wilsons filed suit against Smith, Farmers Insurance denied coverage of Stacy's injuries under the policy's "home care services" exclusion.
The "home care services" reads as follows: exclusion
We do not cover bodily injury or property damage which:
4. results from the legal liability of any insured because of home care services provided to any person on a regular basis by or at the direction of:
a. any insured;
b. any employee of insured;
any other person actually or apparently acting on behalf of any insured.
Regular basis means more than 20 hours per week.
Record at 37-38 (emphasis in original). The term "person" is defined on page one of the policy to include the insured "and any other individual, group, corporation, company, firm, association," etc. R. at 34 (emphasis supplied). The insured is defined in the policy as including Smith.
Farmers Insurance filed a claim for declaratory judgment, claiming that Smith's policy exeluded coverage of Stacy's injuries. The Wilsons counterclaimed for declaratory judgment, asserting that the policy did not exclude coverage. The parties subsequently agreed to a number of important stipulations. First, the Wilsons dismissed their suit against Smith with the understanding that Farmers Insurance would make payment to them if the trial court found that coverage existed. Second, coverage for Stacy's injuries would exist, unless the "home care services" exclusion applied. Third, the parties admitted all depositions, records, and affidavits into evidence without objection. Thus, the case was presented to the trial court by *148 means of evidentiary submission with no live testimony.
The trial court entered a declaratory judgment in favor of Farmers Insurance. In so doing, the trial court issued findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court found that there was no coverage under the policy because of the "business pursuits" 2 and "home care services" exclusions. The Wilsons now appeal.
DISCUSSION AND DECISION
I. Standard of Review
Where a trial court conducts an evidentiary hearing, we give its factual findings and judgment deference. Menard, Inc. v. Dage-MTI, Inc.,
However, even though our supreme court styled this review "de novo," it established a presumption in favor of the trial court's findings and judgment. As our supreme court explained:
In so doing, we will affirm the judgment of the trial court on any legal theory the evidence of record supports. However, the ruling of the trial court is presumptively correct, and we will reverse on the basis of an incorrect factual finding only if the appellant persuades us that the balance of evidence is tipped against the trial court's findings.
GKN Co.,
II. The Wilsons' Claims
The Wilsons claim that the "home care services" exclusion in Smith's insurance policy is ambiguous, thus entitling them to coverage for Stacy's injuries. As they correctly observe, courts construe ambiguous terms in an insurance policy in favor of the insured, especially where
*149
those terms limit or exclude coverage. Meridian Mut. Ins. Co. v. Auto-Owners Ins. Co.,
Where terms are unambiguous, however, they should be given their plain and ordinary meaning. Id. Failure to define a term in an insurance policy does not necessarily make it ambiguous. Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Guzorek,
A. "Regular Basis" and "20 Hours Per Week"
The Wilsons first argue that the "home care services" exclusion is ambiguous because of the terms "regular basis" and "20 hours per week." The policy excludes coverage if legal liability results from Smith providing coverage to any person on a "regular basis." R. at 37. Immediately beneath the exclusion, "regular basis" is defined as "more than 20 hours per week." R. at 38. The Wilsons claim that "per" means "each and every." Appellants' brief at 18. Therefore, they conclude, coverage would be excluded only if Smith provided childeare for more than 20 hours each and every week..
In Morris v. Mut. Benefit Life Ins. Co., a federal district court addressed a similar phrase: "30 hours per week."
Likewise, it would be unreasonable to assume that Smith and Farmers Insurance intended to form a contract whereby coverage would be excluded only if Smith provided childeare for more than 20 hours each and every week. Otherwise, under the same reasoning, if during one week Smith provided care for less than 20 hours because of illness or vacation, then coverage would never be excluded. Such an interpretation of "per" renders the exclusion meaningless. See Russell,
Moreover, we must glean the meaning of the exclusion not just from the isolated phrase "20 hours per week" but from the entire contract. See Combs,
The Wilsons also contend that the policy is ambiguous because it does not make clear when the regular basis has to occur. "For example, is it the week of the incident, the month of the incident, [or] the policy period during which the incident took place[?]" Appellants' brief at 18. In her affidavit, Tammy recounted that from the workweek beginning December 23, 1996, until the week of the accident, Smith would have provided childeare for more than 20 hours per week only eight out of the nineteen weeks before the accident. However, Tammy also stated three times in her first deposition that Smith watched Sosha-who was in half-day kindergarten at the time-for 80 hours per week during the school year 1996-97. R. at 427 (Errata sheet). The trial court was entitled to accept Tammy's deposition testimony as the usual or normal amount of time Smith provided childeare from week to week for Sosha. 3
Moreover, because the parties based their calculations and arguments on the typical 1996-97 school day for Sosha and the other children, the trial court was free to consider the entire course of the 1996-97 school year in deciding whether Smith provided childeare on a regular basis. In other words, the trial court was not limited only to the nineteen weeks the Wilsons have arbitrarily chosen. In sum, the Wil-sons have failed to show that the balance of evidence tips against the trial court's finding that Smith provided childeare on a regular basis. See GKN Co.,
B. "Person"
The Wilsons also contend, even if Smith provided childeare for Sosha on a regular basis, the policy exclusion is still not triggered. The policy reads that coverage will be excluded when bodily injury "results from the legal Hability of any insured because of home care services provided to any person on a regular basis." R. at 87 (emphasis in original). They argue that the policy is ambiguous because it does not make clear for which "person" Smith must provide home care services on a regular basis before coverage is exelud-ed. Does the exclusion apply only when Smith provides care for more than 20 hours per week for the injured child, or for the child who caused an injury, or for any child?
The answer is yes to all three questions. The Wilsons have confused the breadth of the exclusion for ambiguity. By its broad *151 language, the exelusion was written to avoid the risks attendant to providing home care services to any child, including a child who is injured or injures another. The risk of any injury increases as the number of hours one provides childcare increases. In its regulation of childeare, our legislature recognizes this basic principle. See Inp.Cons § 12-7-2-28.6 (defining a childcare home, which is subject to oversight and regulation, as a residence "in which at least six (6) children ... at any time receive child care ... for more than four (4) hours" in a day). Furthermore, the policy also defines "person" as any individual or group. The term "person" is not limited to the injured child or the child who causes an injury. Therefore, given the policy's text and basic principles of risk prevention, Farmers Insurance was avoiding the overall risk that increased hours of childeare entail. Therefore, the Wilsons have failed to show that the exclusion was ambiguous.
CONCLUSION
In sum, the Wilsons have failed to show that the trial court erred in granting judgment in favor of Farmers Insurance. First, the Wilsons have failed to show that the policy terms "regular basis" and "per" are ambiguous. Second, they have failed to show that the balance of evidence tips against the trial court's finding that Smith provided childeare on a regular basis. Third, the Wilsons have failed to show that the policy is ambiguous, inasmuch as coverage is excluded whenever injury results from the provision of childeare to any person.
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
. Although the caption and pleadings refer to the insurance company as Farmers Insurance Exchange, on appeal the appellee refers to itself as Farmers Insurance Group.
. Both parties stipulated that coverage would exist if the "home care services" exclusion did not apply to the case. R. at 54-55. Farmers Insurance concedes on appeal that the trial court committed error to the extent that it relied on the "business pursuits" exclusion to deny coverage. Appellee's brief at 5. Thus, we will address only whether the trial court erred in denying coverage based on the "home care services" exclusion.
. The trial court also found that, during the weeks Smith did not care for Sosha for more than 20 hours, Smith had "in essence 'contracted'" to provide care for more than 20 hours per week. R. at 422. Because the insurance policy does not exclude coverage based on the time Smith "contracted" to provide care, this finding was in error. We base our decision only on the hours Smith usually provided care for Sosha.