Court Opinion

ID: 9733192
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:57:32.371406+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:39.318854
License: Public Domain

OTIS, Justice
(dissenting).
I cannot agree that the injuries sustained by James and Mark Olwell arose out of activities which were “incident” to non-business pursuits of Mrs. Walter’s licensed day care center. When this accident occurred, these children were being cared for at a time and place for the precise purposes for which the business was conducted, and not “incident” to any other activity.
The trial court found the facts to be undisputed. Evangeline Walters regularly cared for the Olwell boys on weekdays from 6:45 a. m. to 5:45 p. m. for which she was paid $50 per week. This is not a case where a housewife with small children at home informally or sporadically agreed to babysit for other parents from time to time. The Walters children ranged in age from 10 to 17 and as school children, except for the summer months, required a minimum amount of daytime attention. On the other hand, the Olwell boys were only four and seven. The accident occurred on December 5, 1978, at 5:45 p. m., a Tuesday. There is nothing in the record to show that Mrs. Walters’ children required any particular care during the hours she was attending her day care charges other than to pick up a daughter in her car.
Clearly the business which she was operating had attendant risks of liability for negligent performance, an unusually high risk where small immature children were involved. Had Mrs. Walters sought unrestricted liability coverage it would certainly have been available to her. However, the Walters never disclosed to their insurance agent that Mrs. Walters was operating a licensed day care center.
Quite obviously the exposure of the insurer to business risks was in no way reduced by virtue of the fact that Mrs. Walters had children of her own to look out for, before and after school hours. Indeed it could be argued that the more children she had in her charge the greater her distractions.
I respectfully submit that under the facts of this case there is no ambiguity in the contract and no rational reason for construing the exception to the exclusion to mean that the risks would be greater if Mrs. Walters had no children of her own at home. I would reverse.
PETERSON, Justice (dissenting).
I join in the dissent of OTIS, J.