State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Huie

666 F. Supp. 1402, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7633
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 23, 1987
DocketC-85-7046-CAL
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 666 F. Supp. 1402 (State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Huie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Huie, 666 F. Supp. 1402, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7633 (N.D. Cal. 1987).

Opinion

ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

LEGGE, District Judge.

Plaintiff has made a motion for summary judgment, seeking a determination that as a matter of law there is no coverage under the policy of insurance issued by it. The motion was argued and submitted. The court has studied the moving papers, the opposing papers, the record, and the applicable authorities. The court concludes that there is no genuine issue of material fact necessary to the decision of the coverage issue, and that summary judgment should be granted to plaintiff.

I.

The following facts are undisputed in the record:

Traci Bomke, a minor female, was forced by Fredrick Trudell into a car driven by Robert Huie. Huie drove the car to an isolated area where Bomke was raped and forced into oral copulation. Those acts were committed by Trudell, with Huie at least present at the scene. There is evidence, although it is not necessary for purposes of this decision, that she was also sexually assaulted by Huie. The events occurred at gun point, and the gun was owned by Huie.

Huie and Trudell were arrested and charged with offenses resulting from the event. They pleaded guilty to rape, kidnapping and forcible oral copulation, and are in prison.

II.

Plaintiff has issued an insurance policy to Huie’s parents, James C. and Betty Huie. It is a homeowners type of policy, which includes liability coverages. The policy was in effect on the date of the assault on Bomke. It is admitted that Huie is an “additional insured” person under that policy. It is also admitted that Trudell is not a person insured under the policy.

Bomke has brought a civil action in state court for damages against Huie and Tru-dell. 1 That case is now pending. Bomke alleges negligent acts, intentional acts, false imprisonment, and assault and battery. If the above undisputed facts are proved by Bomke against Huie in that action, Huie could be held liable for intentional and willful acts. For the reasons discussed below, such liability of Huie would be excluded from the coverage of plaintiff’s policy. So in order to recover against Huie for liability which would be covered under the policy, Bomke may attempt to prove Huie liable for some conduct less than intentional and willful. To that end, Bomke might attempt to establish that Huie was negligent in putting her at risk, or in not stopping Trudell’s acts, or that Huie’s liability is vicarious under a concert-of-action theory.

III.

Huie’s potential liability to Bomke, of whatever type, would be covered under the broad language of the insuring agreements of the policy. The question is whether Huie’s liability to Bomke would be excluded from coverage by an exclusion clause in the policy, or by public policy.

The policy contains an exclusion clause which excludes coverage for “bodily injury or property damage which is expected or intended by the insured.” (emphasis added).

In addition to that policy exclusion, we are also concerned with two sections of the California codes which preclude insurance coverage for willful acts:

1. California Insurance Code Section 533 states that: “An insurer is not liable for a loss caused by a willful act of the insured....”

*1404 2. California Civil Code Section 1668 provides that: “All contracts [including insurance contracts] which have for their object, directly or indirectly, to exempt anyone from responsibility for his own fraud or willful injury to the person or property of another, or violation of law, whether willful or negligent, are against the policy of the law.”

The important words of the code sections with which we are concerned here are underlined above for emphasis. The code sections are a part of every insurance contract, and function as the equivalent to an exclusionary cause in the policy itself. Evans v. Pacific Indemnity, 49 Cal.App.3d 537, 540, 122 Cal.Rptr. 680 (1975). The public policy underlying those code sections is to prevent the encouragement of willful torts. Tomerlin v. Canadian Indemnity, 61 Cal.2d 638, 648, 39 Cal.Rptr. 731, 394 P.2d 571 (1964).

IV.

Plaintiff filed this action seeking a declaration that its policy provides no coverage for any liability of Huie to Bomke, and that plaintiff has no obligation to defend Huie in Bomke’s civil ease. After discovery was conducted, plaintiff filed this motion for summary judgment.

The court does not believe that there are any genuine issues of material fact. The facts stated in Section I. are the material facts necessary for resolution of the insurance coverage questions, and those facts are not in dispute.

Plaintiff has made certain evidentiary objections to matters presented by Bomke in opposing this motion. This court does not consider it necessary to rule upon those evidentiary objections, because even if that evidence were considered the court must still conclude that there is no genuine issue of material fact regarding the absence of coverage under the language of the policy exclusion, the language of the California code sections, or the intent of the legislature in passing those code sections.

The court believes that the only issues for decision are ones of law. That is, taking the undisputed facts regarding the acts of Huie, in the light most favorable to defendants, is Huie’s potential liability to Bomke for those acts excluded from coverage by the policy or barred from coverage by the code sections? This is a question of California law, and involves the code sections, the intent of the legislature, and California case decisions.

V.

The code sections are quoted above and their key language is underlined. The public policy defined by the legislature in those code sections has been stated by the Tom-erlin and Evans decisions, supra.

The California Supreme Court has had occasion to interpret the code sections, albeit in different factual settings:

In Clemmer v. Hartford Insurance Co., 22 Cal.3d 865, 151 Cal.Rptr. 285, 587 P.2d 1098 (1978), the California Supreme Court said that to be excluded by the Insurance Code section, an act had to be done with a “preconceived design to inflict injury,” Id., at 887, 151 Cal.Rptr. 285, 587 P.2d 1098. This court believes that a kidnapping at gun point for the purpose of at least assisting another in committing rape involves a preconceived design to inflict injury.

In a subsequent case, Peterson v. Superior Court, 31 Cal.3d 147, 181 Cal.Rptr. 784, 642 P.2d 1305 (1982), the California Supreme Court implied that the code sections’ concept of “willful” did not extend to an act “performed without intent to harm,” Id.,

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Bluebook (online)
666 F. Supp. 1402, 1987 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7633, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-fire-casualty-co-v-huie-cand-1987.