Whilе under the influence of drugs and alcohol, Richard Patrick Kaminski fired a high-powered hunting rifle seven times through the front door of the house in which his sister and former wife lived. One of the bullets hit and instantly killed Timothy Stinson, a cousin of his former wife. Kaminski pled guilty to one count of involuntary man *180 slaughter and two counts of aggravated assault. Subsequently, John and Winifred Stinson, the parents of the deceased, brought a wrongful death action against Kaminski indirectly seeking recovery under a homеowner’s insurance policy issued by Allstate to Kaminski’s parents, with whom Kaminski allegedly lived at the time of the shooting. Allstate filed this declaratory judgment actiоn, asserting that there is no coverage under the policy for the criminal acts committed by Kaminski while he was a resident of his parents’ household. Following a jury trial, the court entered judgment on the jury’s verdict, which found that Allstate has no duty to defend or indemnify its insured, Richard Patrick Kaminski, in any suit or for any damages arising from аn incident in which Timothy Stinson sustained fatal injuries. The Stinsons appeal.
1. In their first enumeration of error, the Stinsons assert that the trial court erred “in failing to construе the exclusionary clause against the insurer by instructing the jury that coverage is excluded only if the insured (Kaminski) should have known that injury would have likely resulted from aсts which were intentional or criminal on his part.”
The exclusion in the policy is stated as follows: “We do not cover any bodily injury or property damage which may reasonably be expected to result from the intentional or criminal acts of an insured person or which are in fact intended by an insured рerson.” The Stinsons and their co-defendants argued to the trial court that the language of the exclusion means that the bodily injury or property damagе had to be reasonably expected by the actor who committed the intentional or criminal act. Stated differently, “[w]ould Kaminski have reasonably expected bodily injury or рroperty damage to result from his intentional or criminal acts?” Allstate argues that the exclusion does not ask whether the insured reasonably expected the injury or property damage, but rather whether an objective factfinder would have reasonably expected the injury or damage to occur as a result of the insured’s acts. Stated differently, “Would an objective person reasonably expect injury or damage to result from the intentional or criminal acts оf the actor?”
The trial court found that particular language of the exclusion to be ambiguous and submitted the issue to the jury. This particular part of the еxclusion has not been analyzed in detail by this court as far as our research reveals. However, in construing
the same exclusion,
Judge Beasley noted in her special concurrence in
Allstate Ins. Co. v. Jarvis,
We do not agree with the trial court in its finding thаt the phrase at issue in this case is ambiguous. The common understanding of the words “which may reasonably be expected to result from the intentional or сriminal acts of an insured person” clearly creates a universal objective standard, as Judge Beasley noted in Jarvis. Therefore, this phrase being unambiguous, and its plain meaning being that urged here by Allstate, the refusal of the trial court to instruct the jury as the Stinsons requested was not error. The jury was thus properly аllowed to determine whether the injury sustained by Stinson was to be reasonably expected from the act of firing a rifle seven times through a closed door from the perspective of the “reasonable person,” acting in the same or similar circumstances as Kaminski, a completely familiar objective standard in tort law. Furthermore, the court did charge the jury on the general principle that contracts of insurance are to be cоnstrued or interpreted most strongly against the insurer, particularly where the insurer denies coverage based upon a policy exclusion.
2. Appеllants assert that the trial court erred in refusing to give two requested charges, numbers 13 and 15, in their entirety.
(a) Proffered charge number 13 reads: “I charge you that if you find that because of the influence of alcohol, drugs or narcotics Richard Patrick Kaminski’s mind became so impaired as to render him incapable of intentionally doing the act charged or of understanding that a certain consequence would likely result from it, then your verdict must be in favor of the defendants. Whether or not Richard Patrick Kaminski was capable of intentionally doing the act charged or of understanding the consequences of sаid act is a question for you to determine.” Appellants suggest that the proffered charge comes from
State Farm Fire &c. Co. v. Morgan,
One reading of the sentence, “[I]f you find that because of the influence of alcohol, drugs or narcotics Richard Patrick Kaminski’s mind became so impaired as to render him incapable ... of understanding that a certain consequence would likеly result from it, then your verdict must be in favor of the defendants” construes the exclusion in accordance with the defendants’ theory of the case, which, for the reasons discussed in Division 1 above, the trial court correctly refused to do. Reading the first sentence in its alternative form, “if you
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find that because оf the influence of alcohol, drugs or narcotics Richard Patrick Kaminski’s mind became so impaired as to render him incapable of intentionally dоing the act charged . . . then your verdict must be in favor of the defendants” misstates the specific language of the policy at issue in this case, which spеcifically excludes coverage for criminal as well as intentional acts. “If
any portion
of a requested charge is inapt, incorrect, misleading, confusing, argumentative, not precisely adjusted or tailored, or not reasonably raised or authorized by the evidence, denial of the charge request is рroper. [Cits.]” (Emphasis in original.)
Morris v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co.,
(b) Requested charge 15 states: “I charge you that one commits intentional or criminal acts when the actor desires to cause certain consequences or the actor believes that certаin consequences are substantially certain to result from his acts, but mere knowledge and appreciation of risk, short of substantial certainty is not thе equivalent of such intentional or criminal act.” In their brief, appellants assert that this statement of law is from
Pennsylvania Millers Mut. Ins. Co. v. Crews,
3. Appellants’ assertion that the trial court erred in giving Allstate’s requested charges 4 and 5 is not supported in their brief by argument or citation of authority and is therefore deemed abandoned in accordance with Court of Appeals Rule 15 (c) (2).
Judgment affirmed.