Nationwide Assurance Co. v. Lobov

309 S.W.3d 227, 2009 Ark. App. 385, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 400
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arkansas
DecidedMay 13, 2009
DocketCA 08-982
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 309 S.W.3d 227 (Nationwide Assurance Co. v. Lobov) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nationwide Assurance Co. v. Lobov, 309 S.W.3d 227, 2009 Ark. App. 385, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 400 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

RITA W. GRUBER, Judge.

| Appellee Michael Lobov was a passenger in a car involved in a one-car accident. After obtaining a default judgment of compensatory and punitive damages against the driver, Lobov filed the present declaratory-judgment action against the driver’s insurance carrier, appellant Nationwide Assurance Company, seeking a declaration of coverage. The Washington County Circuit Court found that there was coverage under Nationwide’s policy and Nationwide appeals. We affirm.

The events underlying this litigation occurred on the evening of August 4-5, 2005. Lobov and a friend, Jon Neralich, went to a club in Fayetteville where both consumed alcohol, Neralich to the point of intoxication. While at the club, Neralich received an urgent telephone call from his girlfriend indicating that she was in some sort of trouble. En route to Laid his girlfriend, while exceeding the posted speed limit, Neralich lost control of the vehicle and crashed. Lobov, a passenger in Nera-lich’s vehicle, was injured in the accident, requiring surgery and hospital care.

On June 2, 2006, Lobov filed a complaint against Neralich for negligence relating to the accident. The complaint sought both compensatory and punitive damages. By letter dated June 15, 2006, Nationwide determined that there was no coverage for the accident, relying on several provisions of the policy. Nationwide’s policy excluded coverage for personal injuries resulting from the accidental or unintended result of a willful or malicious act by the policyholder. The policy also did not extend to the payment of punitive damages. Neralich failed to answer the complaint, and Lobov obtained a default judgment against him. The default judgment awarded Lobov compensatory damages of $24,590.85 for past medical bills, $10,000 for past pain and suffering, and $5,000 in punitive damages.

The present case began when Lobov filed a petition for declaratory judgment against Nationwide on August 27, 2007, alleging that Nationwide had wrongfully refused coverage under the policy. Nationwide timely answered.

Nationwide later filed a motion for summary judgment. In its brief in support of the motion, Nationwide asserted that Lo-bov had no standing to bring the declaratory-judgment action, that Neralich’s conduct in causing the accident was willful or malicious within the meaning of the policy exclusion, that the policy did not cover punitive damages, and that Lobov was residing with Neralich at the time of the accident, thereby precluding coverage. | ;/f he circuit court granted the motion with respect to the punitive-damages award. However, the court denied the motion in part because there were fact questions as to whether Neralich’s conduct was willful or malicious and whether Lobov was a resident of Neralich’s household at the time of the accident.

The case proceeded to a bench trial. Jon Neralich discussed the events surrounding the accident. Although he admitted to drinking on the night of the accident, he denied that he knew that he was too drunk to drive or that it would cause him legal problems. He also said that he did not intend to either lose control or wreck his vehicle. Neralich denied that the police were chasing him at the time of the accident because he did not see a flashing police light or that his fleeing from the police caused the accident. He understood that he had been traveling at 100 miles per hour. Neralich did not recall doing anything deliberately or intentionally to cause the accident. On cross-examination, Neralich said that he was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, misdemeanor fleeing, and reckless driving. He later entered a guilty plea on all charges.

Michael Lobov testified that Neralich did not appear intoxicated, just upset or agitated. He said that Neralich was traveling at 100 miles per hour and that he asked him to slow down two to four seconds prior to the accident, but he did not know if Neralich heard him. Lobov admitted that he testified in his deposition that he did not believe that Neralich was a good driver in general and that he was concerned because Neralich was upset.

At the close of Lobov’s case, Nationwide moved for dismissal on the basis of the Larguments made in its motion for summary judgment. When the motion was denied, Nationwide did not put on any evidence or renew its motion.

The circuit court ruled from the bench and found that Neralich was willfully exceeding the speed limit. The court also found that Neralich did not believe that he was too impaired to drive and that he did not know that he was being pursued by the police. The court then found that Nera-lich’s conduct in causing the accident was not willful or malicious within the terms of Nationwide’s policy. Based on these findings, the court concluded that the “willful or malicious acts” exclusion did not apply and that Lobov’s damages from the accident were covered under the policy. 1 The court’s written judgment was entered on June 24, 2008. 2 This appeal followed.

We cannot address Nationwide’s first point that Lobov is judicially estopped from asserting that Neralich’s conduct was not willful or malicious within the meaning of Nationwide’s policy. Although Nationwide argued that Lobov had alleged in the prior tort case that Neralich’s conduct in driving while intoxicated, recklessly speeding, and fleeing |5from the police were “willful and wanton acts” entitling Lobov to punitive damages, nowhere did Nationwide specifically argue that Lobov was judicially estopped by virtue of the earlier tort proceeding. Moreover, the circuit court did not specifically rule on the issue of judicial estoppel, either in the motion for summary judgment or in the denial of the motion to dismiss. We will not consider judicial-estoppel arguments on appeal when a party has failed to obtain a ruling from the circuit court. See, e.g., City of Fort Smith v. McCutchen, 372 Ark. 541, 279 S.W.3d 78 (2008); Beverly Enters.-Ark., Inc. v. Thomas, 370 Ark. 310, 259 S.W.3d 445 (2007).

Nationwide next argues that the circuit court erred in concluding that the policy exclusion for the accidental or unintended results of willful conduct did not apply because the circuit court found that Neralich was willfully speeding. We disagree.

Contrary to Nationwide’s argument, the circuit court did not find that the term “willful” as used in the policy was ambiguous. Rather, the court adopted a definition of “willful” consistent with Arkansas case law and, based on that definition, found that the exclusion at issue was ambiguous in that it is not clear in what circumstances that exclusion would apply. The cases relied upon by Nationwide for its argument that the exclusion at issue is not ambiguous, Norris v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 341 Ark. 360, 16 S.W.3d 242 (2000), and Parker v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co., 104 Ark.App. 301, 292 S.W.3d 311

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Bluebook (online)
309 S.W.3d 227, 2009 Ark. App. 385, 2009 Ark. App. LEXIS 400, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nationwide-assurance-co-v-lobov-arkctapp-2009.