James and Shirley RABY, Individually, and as Special Administrator of the Estate of Steven Raby, Deceased, Plaintiffs-Respondents-Cross Appellants, v. Terrance Lee MOE, Defendant-Cross Respondent, Victor GREEN, Defendant, HERITAGE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant-Cross Respondent-Petitioner.
No. 88-0491
Supreme Court
Submitted on briefs October 5, 1989. Decided January 17, 1990.
153 Wis. 2d 101 | 450 N.W.2d 452
For the plaintiffs-respondents-cross appellants, there was a brief by Richard E. Rosenberg, and Nowlan & Mouat, Janesville.
For the defendant-cross respondent, there was a brief by David A. Schumann, and Brennan, Steil, Basting & MacDougall, S.C., Janesville.
LOUIS J. CECI, J. This case is before the court on petition for review of a decision of the court of appeals, Raby v. Moe, 149 Wis. 2d 370, 441 N.W.2d 263 (Ct. App. 1989), which affirmed a judgment of the Rock county circuit court, Mark J. Farnum, Circuit Judge. The respondents, James and Shirley Raby, commenced a civil action for the death of their son, Steven Raby, who was shot and killed during an armed robbery of the liquor store where he worked. The respondent, Terrance Moe (Moe), participated in the commission of the robbery and was named as a defendant in the action. Moe was insured under a policy of homeowners insurance issued by the petitioner, Heritage Mutual Insurance Company (Heritage), at the time of the robbery. Heritage was also named as a defendant in the action.
Heritage moved for summary judgment, arguing that its policy of insurance did not provide coverage for damages resulting from Raby‘s death because of an exclusion to coverage for injury “expected or intended” by the insured. The circuit court denied the motion, and
The dispositive issue before this court is whether the circuit court should have granted Heritage‘s motion for summary judgment on the grounds that the policy exclusion for injury “expected or intended” by the insured bars coverage for damages resulting from Raby‘s death. We find that Moe‘s intentional participation in the armed robbery was so substantially certain to result in some type of bodily injury that the circuit court should have inferred the intent to injure necessary to invoke the policy exclusion on the facts of this case as a matter of law.1 Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the circuit court.
The basic facts of this case are undisputed. Jeff Thompson came up with a plan to rob a liquor store in Janesville, Wisconsin. During the afternoon of January 23, 1986, Thompson spoke with Victor Green and Moe
If a claim is made or a suit is brought against any insured for damages because of bodily injury ... caused by an occurrence to which this coverage applies, we will:
a. pay up to our limit of liability for the damages for which the insured is legally liable ...
An occurrence was defined in the policy as an accident. The policy also contained an exclusion to coverage for damages arising from bodily injury “expected or intended by the insured.” Bodily injury was defined in the policy as bodily harm.
James and Shirley Raby commenced a civil action on their own behalf and on behalf of the estate of Steven Raby, their son, seeking damages for Steven‘s death. Moe and Heritage were named as defendants in the action.4 The complaint alleged that Moe was careless and negligent in planning and executing the robbery and that his negligence caused the injuries and death of Steven Raby.
Heritage appealed to the court of appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the circuit court. The court of appeals found that the intent to inflict injury which triggers the policy exclusion is a question of fact which was properly submitted to the jury. Raby, 149 Wis. 2d at 380. The court held that there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to support the jury verdict and that the circuit court properly ruled, on the basis of that verdict, that the policy exclusion did not apply. Id. at 381. Heritage petitioned this court for review of the decision of the court of appeals, which we granted.
Heritage argues that the intent to injure which invokes the policy exclusion for injury “expected or intended” by the insured may be inferred on the facts of this case as a matter of law. We construe Heritage‘s argument as asserting error in the circuit court‘s failure
We find that there is no dispute of the material facts in this case. The record made on the motion for summary judgment reveals that Moe drove Thompson to the liquor store to perpetrate the armed robbery and that he pleaded guilty to party to a crime of second-degree murder as a result of his involvement in the robbery. The record also reveals that Moe was aware that Thompson planned to use a loaded shotgun during the robbery and that he knew that Thompson entered the liquor store with the shotgun in order to effectuate the robbery. Further, there is no dispute that Moe was insured under the terms of the homeowners insurance policy issued by Heritage to Moe‘s parents at the time of the robbery. Based on these undisputed facts, we review the legal issue presented in this case. We will reverse the circuit court‘s denial of summary judgment if it has incorrectly decided that issue. Prince v. Bryant, 87 Wis. 2d 662, 666, 275 N.W.2d 676 (1979).
In the instant case, there was no factual issue raised on the motion for summary judgment concerning Moe‘s intent to participate in the crime which resulted in the death of Steven Raby. Moe‘s testimony at the criminal trial of Jeff Thompson indisputably established that Moe willingly and actively assisted Thompson in the commission of the armed robbery by driving the getaway car. Moe‘s intent to act is further established in this case by his voluntary plea of guilty to party to the crime of second-degree murder, contrary to
The intent to inflict injury which invokes an intentional acts exclusion may be actual or may be inferred from the nature of the insured‘s intentional act. Pachucki, 89 Wis. 2d at 709. Once it is determined that the insured intended some injury or harm to the victim, the exclusion will preclude coverage even though the actual harm which occurs is different in character or magnitude from that intended. Id. at 714, citing with approval Butler v. Behaeghe, 37 Colo. App. 282, 548 P.2d 934, 938 (1976). In discussing the intent which must be proven to invoke a policy exclusion for intentional acts, the Pachucki court stated:
‘... [I]t is an intent to bring about a result which will invade the interests of another in a way that the law will not sanction. ...’
‘... Intent, however, is broader than a desire to bring about physical results. It must extend not only to those consequences which are desired, but also to those which the actor believes are substantially certain to follow from what he does. ... The man who fires a bullet into a dense crowd may fervently pray that he will hit no one, but since he must believe and know that he cannot avoid doing so, he intends it. The practical application of this principle has meant that where a reasonable man in the defendant‘s position would believe that a particular result was substantially certain to follow, he will be dealt with by the jury, or even by the court, as though he had intended it. ...’
Id. at 711 (emphasis added), quoting Prosser, Law of Torts at 31-32 (4th ed. 1971).
The court of appeals in K.A.G. interpreted the above-quoted language in Pachucki as permitting a court to infer an intent to injure on behalf of the insured actor in those narrow circumstances in which the degree of certainty that the insured‘s intentional conduct will cause injury is sufficiently great to justify the inference as a matter of law. Id. at 163. The court of appeals concluded that acts of sexual molestation against a minor victim are so substantially certain to result in injury to the minor that the law will infer an intent to injure on behalf of the insured without regard to his claimed intent. Id. at 165. Accordingly, the court affirmed the circuit court‘s grant of summary judgment for the insurer and held that the policy exclusion for intentional acts applied to the facts of that case as a matter of law. Id.
The Rabys and Moe argue that the question of Moe‘s intent to injure Steven Raby was properly submitted to the jury pursuant to Poston v. U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 107 Wis. 2d 215, 320 N.W.2d 9 (Ct. App. 1982). In that case, the plaintiff was injured when the insured “sloshed” gasoline on her and a third party unexpectedly and independently lit a match, causing serious burns. The circuit court granted summary judgment for the insurer on the ground that the insured‘s subsequent conviction for party to a crime of injury by conduct regardless of life triggered the policy exclusion for intentional or expected acts. Id. at 216. The court of
We find that Poston is factually distinguishable from the case at bar because, in that case, there was no plan or agreement between the insured and the third party to commit the crime causing injury to the plaintiff. Absent such a plan, it could not be said that the insured‘s intentional act of “sloshing” gasoline on the plaintiff was, in itself, so substantially certain to result in bodily injury that an intent to injure could be inferred from the nature of the insured‘s intentional act as a matter of law. In the instant case, by contrast, Moe conspired with Thompson and Green to commit the armed robbery which resulted in the death of Steven Raby. Moe knew that Thompson entered the liquor store with a loaded 12-gauge shotgun and intended to point the gun at the store clerk to successfully carry out the robbery. We conclude that Moe‘s willing participation in a robbery which, by its very nature, carried a substantial risk of injury or death distinguishes this case from Poston.
We conclude that some type of bodily injury is so substantially certain to occur during the commission of an armed robbery that the law will infer an intent to injure on behalf of the insured actor without regard to
By the Court.—The decision of the court of appeals is reversed, and the cause is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
STEINMETZ, J. (concurring). I disagree with the majority‘s acceptance of the language in Poston v. U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 107 Wis. 2d 215, 320 N.W.2d 9 (Ct. App. 1982). (Petition for review denied, 107 Wis. 2d 752.) In that decision, the court of appeals found that the act of throwing gasoline on that plaintiff, in itself, was not substantially certain to result in bodily injury. I cannot agree with the statement as the majority does. The “sloshing” of a human being with such a volatile substance reasonably can be inferred to cause injury either by ignition or by contact itself on the skin, eyes and body.
SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J. (dissenting). The majority opinion takes the case away from the jury. I would not. I would affirm the decision of the court of appeals and the circuit court affirming the jury verdict.
This case, like N.N. v. Moraine Mutual Ins. Co., 153 Wis. 2d 84, 450 N.W.2d 445 (1990), involves the interpretation of the intentional injury exclusion in homeowners insurance policies. The number of cases in which courts are called upon to interpret and apply this exclusion is surprisingly large.1 Obviously the wording of
the intentional injury exclusion has caused much litigation, and it is unfortunate that insurers have not revised the language of the exclusion to reduce the number of disputes.
When interpreting the intentional injury exclusion, courts have attempted to balance two public policy objectives: (1) the public and the victim should benefit from the insured‘s being covered under a homeowners insurance policy, and yet (2) a person should not be allowed to insure against harms he or she intentionally causes, thereby acquiring a license to engage in such activities.
In my opinion, the majority‘s holdings in this case, and in N.N. v. Moraine Mutual Ins. Co., represent a significant departure from the balance we struck in prior case law interpreting an insurer‘s liability under the intentional injury exclusion.
The majority opinion claims that it is employing the two-prong subjective test this court adopted in Pachucki v. Republic Insurance Co., 89 Wis. 2d 703, 708, 278 N.W.2d 898 (1979), to determine whether the insured‘s acts are excluded from coverage as “expected or intended” bodily injury. The court held in that case that the fact finder must determine that the insured intended to act and intended to injure for the insured to be excluded from coverage.
Under the second prong of the Pachucki test, the fact finder must determine whether the insured intended to injure the victim. The majority opinion finds, as a matter of law, that bodily injury is a natural and probable consequence of armed robbery.2 The majority also
Unfortunately, the majority opinions in both this case and N.N. fail to discuss the effect of their holdings on Crowall v. Heritage Mutual Ins. Co., 118 Wis. 2d 120, 346 N.W.2d 327 (Ct. App. 1984), and Kirchefski v. American Family Mutual Ins. Co., 132 Wis. 2d 74, 390 N.W.2d 76 (Ct. App. 1986), two cases dealing with collateral estoppel and with the effect of convictions of crime on a civil action involving insurance policies.
Holding that intent to injure has been established as a matter of law in an armed robbery is in marked contrast to the Pachucki case. There the fact finder determined intent to injure. The facts giving rise to the injury were undisputed. Despite some testimony to the contrary, each defendant admitted to attempting to hit the victim with a greening pin and cause stinging. The defendants denied they intended to inflict the serious eye injury that resulted. This court affirmed the circuit court‘s factual finding of intent to injure from this record as not contrary to the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence.
Thus the majority opinion adopts a negligence standard in interpreting and applying the intentional injury exclusion in the policy, even though the majority opinion interprets the policy as excluding only intentionally inflicted harms.
In summary I conclude that the majority opinion adopts an objective test, retreating from Pachucki‘s subjective intent to injure test.5 I believe that the test originally set forth in Pachucki remains the better means of evaluating whether coverage for intentional injury in a particular case should be excluded under homeowners insurance policies. An injury can be unintentional even though the acts that caused the injury were intentional. If the actor who does an intentional act does not intend injury, the actor is covered by the policy. Only intended injuries flowing from an intentional act are excluded under an intentional acts provision in a homeowners policy.
Prosser and Keeton (pp. 169-170) discuss the difference as follows:
It is helpful to an understanding of the negligence concept to distinguish it from intent. In negligence the actor does not desire to bring about the consequences which follow, nor does he know that they are substantially certain or occur, or believe they will. There is merely a risk of such consequences, sufficiently great to lead a reasonable person in his position to anticipate them, and to guard against them. ... As the probability of injury to another, apparent from the facts within the acting party‘s knowledge, becomes greater, his conduct takes on more of the attributes of intent, until it approaches and finally becomes indistinguishable from that substantial certainty of harm that underlies intent.
The Pachucki case and K.A.G. v. Stanford, 148 Wis. 2d 158, 434 N.W.2d 790 (Ct. App. 1988), carefully distinguish among the three kinds of consequences of intentional acts. I think the holding in this case fails to make the distinction.
Notes
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(2) As a natural and probable consequence of the commission of or attempt to commit a felony.
939.05 Parties to crime. (1) Whoever is concerned in the commission of a crime is a principal and may be charged with and convicted of the commission of the crime although he did not directly commit it and although the person who directly committed it has not been convicted or has been convicted of some other degree of the crime or of some other crime based on the same act.
(2) A person is concerned in the commission of the crime if he:
(a) Directly commits the crime; or
(b) Intentionally aids and abets the commission of it; or
(c) Is a party to a conspiracy with another to commit it or advises, hires, counsels or otherwise procures another to commit it. Such a party is also concerned in the commission of any other crime which is committed in pursuance of the intended crime and which under the circumstances is a natural and probable consequence of the intended crime. This paragraph does not apply to a person who voluntarily changes his mind and no longer desires that the crime be committed and notifies the other parties concerned of his withdrawal within a reasonable time before the commission of the crime so as to allow the others also to withdraw. Although the majority opinion refers to the facts of Moe‘s participation in the armed robbery, as I read the opinion the facts, except for the guilty plea and conviction, are irrelevant to the holding of the case. The majority opinion concludes “that some type of bodily injury is so substantially certain to occur during the commission of an armed robbery that the law will infer an intent to injure on behalf of the insured actor without regard to his claimed intent.” At 114-115. The majority opinion makes this inference regardless of whether the insured is the actor, aider or abettor, or conspirator in the armed robbery.
