Opinion ID: 1352735
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Other states' decisions

Text: (12) Although we are not bound by decisions of other states' courts, particularly in a case of statutory construction, they do reflect that our decision is in the mainstream on this issue. ( Brown v. Kelly Broadcasting Co., supra, 48 Cal.3d 711, 740-742; Delaney v. Superior Court, supra, 50 Cal.3d 785, 799, fn. 9.) To allow coverage for child molestation would be contrary to the almost unanimous rule in other states. (See generally 11 Ins. Litigation Rptr. (Shepard's/McGraw Hill June 1989) 289, 290-291.) We are not aware of any decision by a state's high court that allows coverage for child molestation. ( Allstate Ins. Co. v. Troelstrup (Colo. 1990) 789 P.2d 415, 419; Landis v. Allstate Ins. Co. (Fla. 1989) 546 So.2d 1051, 1053.) [15] The out-of-state authority was extensively reviewed recently in Fire Ins. Exchange v. Abbott, supra, 204 Cal. App.3d 1012, 1025-1028. We need not belabor the point with further analysis of those cases. Suffice it to say that in denying coverage other courts have relied in large part on a realistic view of child molestation. The view was well put by a Florida justice: ... I am absolutely unwilling to deny the foreseeability of injury to a child who is subjected to sexual abuse. It defies human response and sensitivity to conclude that the inevitable product of the sexual molestation of a child is not intended. That conduct inescapably inspires some response in the minor victim. Whether the response is a precocious excitation of libido, an utter revulsion or simply confusion, the child suffers grave psychological injury. Indeed, the fact that the ultimate goal of this litigation is to acquire funding to reconstruct Nicole's [the child's] emotional status is a testament to the soundness of my urging that we not accord slavish adherence to a principle [subjective intent to harm] that simply does not fit the context. The damage Nicole suffered flowed just as surely from Page's criminal acts as if he had taken his fist or a club and struck her in the face. ( Zordan by and through Zordan v. Page (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1986) 500 So.2d 608, 613 (dis. opn. of Frank, J.).) We agree. [16]