Court Opinion

ID: 9573866
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:59:57.868527+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:28.030076
License: Public Domain

Carley, Judge,
dissenting.
I must respectfully dissent to the majority’s conclusion that the provision of appellant’s policy excluding coverage for bodily injury expected or intended by the insured is not applicable to this case. The case cited and quoted at length by the majority, Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Hart, 162 Ga. App. 333 (291 SE2d 410) (1982), sets forth the established criteria for determining applicability vel non of such an exclusion. The majority attempts to bring the factual scenario in this case outside of the general rule by emphasizing that the “principal testified that while he had no intention of injuring Crews, he did administer the punishment to cause pain and discomfort.” (Emphasis supplied.) (Majority opinion, page 493.) As set forth in the portion of Colonial Penn Ins. Co. quoted by the majority “such an exclusion is applicable if the insured acts with the intent or expectation that bodily injury occur, even if the actual, resulting injury is different either in kind or magnitude from that intended or expected.” (Emphasis *494supplied.) Colonial Penn Ins. Co. v. Hart, supra, 335. The principal’s testimony reveals that he intended to cause “injury” within the meaning of the policy exclusion notwithstanding the fact that the result differed “in kind [and] magnitude from that intended or expected.”
Decided June 8, 1987
Rehearing denied October 13, 1987
Terry A. Dillard, Bryant H. Bower, Jr., for appellant.
B. Michael Magda, for appellees.
It must be remembered that this lawsuit seeks recovery for the intentional tort of assault and battery. Notwithstanding the defense of appellees that the results of the spanking were unintentional or their right to offer evidence in support of that defense at trial, “[t]he allegations of the complaint are looked to to determine whether a liability covered by the policy is asserted.” (Emphasis in original.) Great American Ins. Co. v. McKemie, 244 Ga. 84, 85-86 (259 SE2d 39) (1979). There is no evidence or contention that the allegations of the complaint falsely state the factual occurrence of the injury and that, contrary to those allegations, the injury was not the ultimate result of the intentional act of spanking. Compare Loftin v. U. S. Fire Ins. Co., 106 Ga. App. 287, 293-294 (127 SE2d 53) (1962). Since, as the majority itself notes, the spanking was intended to produce pain, the fact that it produced more pain than was intended does not bring the injury within the ambit of coverage. Based upon the allegations of the complaint, the liability asserted is within the exclusionary provision of the policy. Thus, the trial court erred in determining that this case is within the coverage of appellant’s policy. See also Stein v. Mass. Bay Ins. Co., 172 Ga. App. 811 (324 SE2d 510) (1984). Compare State Auto. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Thomson, 180 Ga. App. 90 (348 SE2d 507) (1986). I would reverse the judgment of the trial court and, therefore, I dissent.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Birdsong, Presiding Judge McMurray and Judge Sognier join in this dissent.