Defendant insured struck defendant friend in the groin, causing significant injuries. In a declaratory judgment action, the Ventura County Superior Court, California, concluded that plaintiff insurer had a duty to defend the insured in the underlying civil action. The parties thereafter entered into a stipulated judgment against the insurer in the amount of $670,000. The insurer appealed.
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Overview
The insurer argued that the trial court erred in concluding that the insured’s deliberate act of striking his friend qualified as an accident because he did not intend to injure the friend. The court concluded that the insurer did not have a duty to defend the insured. The insured admitted that he intended to strike his friend in the groin area as part of a consensual game, and there was no dispute that the friend suffered injuries as a direct result of the strike. Therefore, this was not a case where some unexpected, independent, and unforeseen happening in the causal chain produced the resulting harm. Rather, the friend’s injuries were the direct and immediate result of an intended event. The mere fact that the insured did not intend to injure his friend did not transform the insured’s intentional conduct into an accident.
Outcome
The judgment was reversed, and the trial court was directed to enter judgment in favor of the insurer.