Court Opinion

ID: 9626217
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:05:38.95292+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:23.656919
License: Public Domain

HOLOHAN, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
The resolution of this case by the majority is actually a decision by the court based on policy to distribute the consequences of the loss on an insurance company. I come to this conclusion because a reading of the majority opinion shows that it is not based on logic. The decisions from other jurisdictions collected in 2 A.L.R.3d 1238 et seq. present a variety of approaches to the problem. The majority of this court reject the decisions which find the insurance exclusion in this case ambiguous. 143 Ariz. at 355, 694 P.2d at 185.
The issue of whether self-defense was excluded from coverage under an insurance policy containing language similar to that in this case was decided in Lockhart v. Allstate Ins. Co., 119 Ariz. 150, 579 P.2d 1120 (App.1978). Review was denied by this court.
The exclusion in Lockhart read: “to bodily injury or property damage which is either expected or intended from the standpoint of the Insured.” Id., 119 Ariz. at 151, 579 P.2d at 1121. Construing the language of the exclusion the court stated:
The insurance policy excludes coverage for an intentional act of the insured which was intended to cause injury or which could be expected to cause injury. The question of self-defense presents an issue of motive or justification for an intentionally caused harm but does nothing to avoid the inference of intent to harm that necessarily follows Lockhart’s deliberate shooting at Owes.
Id., 119 Ariz. at 152, 579 P.2d at 1122 (citation omitted). This court, however, distinguishes the intent involved in an intentional act and that in self-defense, and concludes that the intent of the actor is more important in characterizing the conduct than the immediate intent accompanying the act which produces the injury. 143 Ariz. at 357, 694 P.2d at 187. While this may be an interesting philosophic conclusion, it does nothing to change the plain meaning of the policy exclusion. At one time this court stated that an insurance company had the right to limit its liability and to impose conditions and restrictions upon its contractual obligations not inconsistent with public policy. Kepner v. Western Fire Insurance Company, 109 Ariz. 329, 330, 509 P.2d 222, 223 (1973). That position is effectively overruled with today’s decision.
Not being satisfied with changing self-defense into a non-intentional act, the majority concludes that the exclusion does not apply even if the defense of self-defense is not available because greater force was used than necessary. The “greater force than allowed by self-defense” has now become negligence.
What the court has done in this case is to mandate insurance coverage whenever an insured contends his intentional acts were *361done in self-defense; further, the insurance company must now defend and pay the judgment up to policy limits even if the insured exceeds the limits of legitimate self-defense.
The decision by the majority is neither supported by logic nor good policy, and I dissent.