The Estate of Finley Baier v. Jacob Hemauer

CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedApril 8, 2025
Docket2024AP000078
StatusUnpublished

This text of The Estate of Finley Baier v. Jacob Hemauer (The Estate of Finley Baier v. Jacob Hemauer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Estate of Finley Baier v. Jacob Hemauer, (Wis. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS DECISION NOTICE DATED AND FILED This opinion is subject to further editing. If published, the official version will appear in the bound volume of the Official Reports. April 8, 2025 A party may file with the Supreme Court a Samuel A. Christensen petition to review an adverse decision by the Clerk of Court of Appeals Court of Appeals. See WIS. STAT. § 808.10 and RULE 809.62.

Appeal No. 2024AP78 Cir. Ct. No. 2021CV554

STATE OF WISCONSIN IN COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT III

THE ESTATE OF FINLEY BAIER, TAYLOR BAIER AND FAITH MOENING,

PLAINTIFFS-RESPONDENTS,

J.J. KELLER AND ASSOCIATES, INC. HEALTH AND WELFARE PLAN,

INVOLUNTARY-PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT,

V.

JACOB HEMAUER, AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE COMPANY AND ABC INSURANCE,

DEFENDANTS,

GRAVITY PARK USA, LLC, DEF INSURANCE AND GHI INSURANCE,

THIRD-PARTY DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS,

NATIONAL CASUALTY COMPANY,

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT. No. 2024AP78

APPEAL from an order of the circuit court for Brown County: MARC A. HAMMER, Judge. Reversed and cause remanded with directions.

Before Stark, P.J., Hruz and Gill, JJ.

Per curiam opinions may not be cited in any court of this state as precedent

or authority, except for the limited purposes specified in WIS. STAT. RULE 809.23(3).

¶1 PER CURIAM. National Casualty Company appeals from a nonfinal order denying its motion for summary judgment.1 National Casualty moved for summary judgment on the ground that the policy of insurance it issued to Robert Schneider DBA Gravity Park USA, LLC,2 did not provide coverage, pursuant to several endorsements, for the claims alleged in this case against Gravity Park. For the reasons that follow, we agree with National Casualty’s reading of the plain language of the policy. Accordingly, we reverse and remand this case with directions that the circuit court grant National Casualty’s motion for summary judgment.

BACKGROUND

¶2 The following facts are undisputed for the purposes of this appeal. On July 19, 2020, five-year-old Finley Baier suffered a fatal injury while riding a

1 We granted leave to appeal the nonfinal order on February 9, 2024. See WIS. STAT. RULE 809.50(3) (2023-24). All references to the Wisconsin Statutes are to the 2023-24 version unless otherwise noted. 2 Schneider is Gravity Park’s owner. Going forward, unless otherwise noted, we will refer to both Schneider and Gravity Park as “Gravity Park.” National Casualty issued a commercial general liability policy to Gravity Park for the policy period from May 20, 2020, to March 29, 2021 (hereinafter, the policy).

2 No. 2024AP78

dirt bike3 on a track owned and operated by Gravity Park. Finley’s death occurred when he was struck by Jacob Hemauer, who was driving an ATV on that same track. The record is clear that there was no official scheduled activity or race taking place at Gravity Park that day. The facility was open for fee-paying guests to ride freely on the track.

¶3 As a result of the accident, Finley’s parents—Taylor Baier and Faith Moening—and Finley’s Estate (collectively, Finley’s parents) filed the instant lawsuit against Hemauer and Hemauer’s insurer, American Family Mutual Insurance Company (collectively, Hemauer).4 Thereafter, Hemauer filed a third-party complaint against Gravity Park, Schneider, and Gravity Park’s unknown insurer, alleging that Gravity Park’s negligence contributed to Finley’s death. National Casualty then intervened in the lawsuit, seeking a declaratory judgment that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Gravity Park. Finley’s parents responded with an amended complaint that included claims against Gravity Park, alleging negligence and gross negligence against Hemauer and Gravity Park and alleging a violation of the Safe Place Statute—WIS. STAT. § 101.11—against Gravity Park.

¶4 National Casualty subsequently moved to bifurcate and stay proceedings on liability pending a determination of its coverage obligations, which the circuit court granted. Thereafter, National Casualty filed a motion for

3 A dirt bike is a “lightweight motorcycle designed for operation on unpaved surfaces.” Dirt bike, MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dirt%20bike (last visited April 3, 2025). 4 United Healthcare Insurance Company was originally named as an involuntary plaintiff based on its status as Finley’s health insurer. The J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc. Health & Welfare Plan was substituted for United Healthcare as the correct party of interest on October 18, 2022.

3 No. 2024AP78

summary judgment, asserting that the policy did not provide coverage for any of the parties’ claims against Gravity Park and that National Casualty had no duty to defend or indemnify Gravity Park with regard to the lawsuit’s claims. Specifically, National Casualty argued that its Commercial General Liability Coverage Form (the CGL Coverage Form) was narrowed by the policy’s Limited Event Coverage Endorsement “to reported events on file with National Casualty.” Therefore, damages arising as a result of Finley’s death, which did not occur during a scheduled, reported, and approved event, were not covered under the policy. National Casualty also identified three other endorsements that it claimed barred coverage: (1) the Motorsports Racing Liability Coverage Endorsement (the Motorsports Endorsement); (2) the Designated Operations Exclusion Endorsement; and (3) the Legal Liability to Participants Who Are Minors Endorsement (Minors Endorsement).

¶5 The circuit court denied National Casualty’s summary judgment motion by written decision and order. The court first noted that the parties agreed that Finley’s accident was an “occurrence” such that there was an initial grant of coverage under the CGL Coverage Form. The court also appeared to conclude that the Limited Event Coverage Endorsement precluded coverage for the claims against Gravity Park because the evidence “clearly establishes that Gravity Park had not declared an event for July 19, 2020.”

¶6 Nevertheless, the circuit court then proceeded to address the Motorsports Endorsement. The endorsement modified the CGL Coverage Form to add an exclusion for “‘[b]odily injury’ or ‘property damage’ arising out of the use of the ‘premises’ for any exhibition, event or activity not a part of the ‘covered program.’” As relevant here, “covered program” was defined as any event that “[i]s usual and customary to your business activities and events.” The court

4 No. 2024AP78

determined that Finley and Hemauer were participating in a noncompetition motocross riding event, which was “usual and customary” for Gravity Park, and, as such, the court concluded that the Motorsports Endorsement provided coverage, notwithstanding the Limited Event Coverage Endorsement.

¶7 The circuit court further determined that the Designated Operations Exclusion Endorsement precluded coverage under the policy when read in isolation, but it did not preclude coverage when read in conjunction with the rest of the policy. The endorsement states that the policy does not provide coverage for bodily injury or property damage arising out of “‘[o]pen riding and practice activities’ on the insured premises during nonracing days.” The exclusion defines “[o]pen riding and practice activities” as “times in which ‘covered programs’ are not occurring and participation is open to the general public either on a club membership basis or on a fee basis.” Because the court had already concluded that Finley’s accident occurred during a “covered program,” the court concluded that the Designated Operations Exclusion Endorsement did not apply because it only applied when covered programs were not occurring.

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Bluebook (online)
The Estate of Finley Baier v. Jacob Hemauer, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-estate-of-finley-baier-v-jacob-hemauer-wisctapp-2025.