Andrea D. MASON, Appellant,
v.
FLORIDA SHERIFFS' SELF-INSURANCE FUND, et al, Appellee.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
William L. Townsend, Jr., of Walton and Townsend, Palatka, for Appellant.
*269 John C. Cooper and James E. Messer, Jr., of Cooper, Coppins & Monroe, P.A., Tallahassee, and Ronald A. Mowrey, of Mowrey & Newman, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
THOMPSON, Judge.
Andrea D. Mason appeals an order that dismissed with prejudice her complаint against the Florida Sheriffs' Self-Insurance Fund ("the Fund"). She sued the Fund for its failure to defend or indemnify Deputy David A. McNally when she sued him for damages arising out of an аlleged sexual battery. We affirm.
In her complaint, Mason alleged that McNally received a warrant for her arrest, and, in exchange for not serving the warrant, he demanded sexual intercourse. McNally, in uniform, confronted Mason with the warrant in her home, and proposed that he would рretend he could not find her if she had sexual intercourse with him. He told her that he would arrest her on the warrant if she did not agree. Mason submitted to McNally under the duress, had intercourse with him, and McNally left without serving the warrant.
Mason then sued McNally in federal court, alleging a violation of her civil rights under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. In the federal case, Mason and McNally entered a stipulated judgment in favor of Mason for $100,000, and a judgment for that sum was entered against McNally. As part of the stipulation, McNally assigned to Mason his rights against the Fund for its failure to provide him a defense and indemnity. In exchange for the assignment, Masоn agreed that she would not attempt to execute the judgment against McNally until the litigation against the Fund concluded, and that the time for exeсution of the judgment would expire two years after the conclusion of the litigation against the Fund.
Mason's state complaint sought damages for the Fund's refusal to provide a defense or coverage for McNally in connection with the federal case. Mason alleged that the stipulation, which was attached to her state court complaint, established McNally's culpability and liability.
The trial court dismissed the state complaint with prejudice and entered judgment in favor of the Fund, finding there was no coverage. The court determined three bases for finding no coverage: 1) McNally's acts were criminal acts constituting sexual battery, battery, and extortion; 2) public policy of the state precluded covеrage for such intentional acts as sexual battery; 3) McNally's conduct was outside the scope of his employment. Mason timely appеals.
The first issue for our consideration is whether the policy, which provides coverage for battery, excludes coverage for sexual battery. The policy provides at Part IV, paragraph 3 that:
Subject to the terms, conditions and limitations of this agreement, the Fund assets may be used to pay on behalf of the Sheriff all sums which the Sheriff shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of claims for false arrest, assault and battery, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, false or improper service of process, libel or slander, defamatiоn of character, violation of property rights, wrongful eviction, wrongful entry, humiliation and invasion of the rights of privacy and violation of constitutiоnal rights, growing out of the performance of the duties of Sheriffs, or their deputies, or their employees, during the effective period of this agrеement. (Emphasis added.)
The policy also provides at Part VI, paragraph 1(1), that it does not apply to, among other things, "claims against thе Sheriff or any other insured alleging that he has committed a fraudulent, dishonest or criminal act." Mason argues that battery, claims for which are cоvered under the coverage provision of the policy, is always a criminal act. Sexual battery, she argues, which is a species of battery and which is always a crime, must also be covered by the policy. If the policy can be read to exclude coverage, she argues, then the exclusion, which excludes from coverage claims alleging acts that are criminal, creates an ambiguity in the policy that must be resolved in favor of coverage.
The two provisions cannot be reconciled because the policy simply gives on the onе hand and takes away on the other. The trial court relied on Aromin v. State *270 Farm Fire & Casualty Co.,
However, that does not end our inquiry. Technically, sexual battery is a form of battery, but is sexual battery what is commonly meant by the term "battery?" Insurance contrаcts must be read in light of the skill and experience of ordinary people, and be given their everyday meaning as understood by the "man on the street". Thomas v. Prudential Property and Cas.,
Further, we agree with the trial court that public pоlicy precludes a holding that there is coverage. The general rule is that one may not insure against one's own intentional misconduct beсause the availability of insurance will directly stimulate the intentional wrongdoer to violate the law. Ranger Ins. Co. v. Bal Harbour Club, Inc.,
Finally, the Fund argues that there is no coverage because McNally's act was outside the course and scope of his employment. Deputy McNally's actions were not in furtherance of the purpose of serving his employer, the sheriff, and we do not find a causal relationship between the duties of a deputy sheriff and the commission of a sexual battery to serve the sheriff. Sexual batteries are generally outside the scope of employment. See Nazareth v. Herndon Ambulance Service, Inc.,
Accordingly, we hold that McNally's acts were not covered by the Fund.
AFFIRMED.
W. SHARP and GOSHORN, JJ., concur.
NOTES
Notes
[1] We also agree with Mason that there is no difference between the tort of battery and the crime of battery. Compare § 784.03, Fla. Stat. (1995), with City of Miami v. Sanders,
