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St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. v. Fors11/14/2000
Petition for review denied January 16, 2001.
ST. PAUL FIRE AND MARINE INSURANCE COMPANY,
RESPONDENT,
v.
GREGORY C. FORS, D.C.,
RESPONDENT,
R.M., ET AL.,
INTERVENORS,
D.J., ET AL., INTERVENORS,
APPELLANTS.
Ramsey County District Court File No. C4-98-811
Bethany K. Culp, Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly Llp, Plaza VII, Suite 3300, 45 South Seventh Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402 (for respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine) Marc G. Kurzman, Kurzman, Grant & Ojala, St. Anthony Main, Suite 403, 219 Southeast Main Street, Minneapolis, MN 55414 (for respondent Fors) Darrell Carter, 622 Bemidji Avenue North, P.O. Box 875, Bemidji, MN 56601 (for appellants)
Considered and decided by Klaphake Presiding Judge, Lansing Judge, and Mulally Judge.* * Retired judge of the district court, serving as judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals by appointment pursuant to Minn. Const. art. VI, ยง 10.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Klaphake, Judge
Affirmed
Klaphake, Judge
UNPUBLISHED OPINION
Appellants/intervenors, C.J. and her husband, D.J., challenge summary judgment granted to respondent St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company (St. Paul Fire) in this declaratory judgment action to determine whether St. Paul Fire had a duty to defend and provide insurance coverage for its insured, chiropractor Gregory Fors. Fors, who was insured under a professional liability policy issued by St. Paul Fire solely to provide professional services as a chiropractor, engaged in sexual relations with former clients and employees, including C.J. Because the sexual misconduct alleged in the declaratory judgment action was not a risk covered under the policy, we affirm the district court's determination that St. Paul Fire had no duty to defend Fors.
DECISION
St. Paul Fire's professional liability policy covered damage claims "based on events that arise out of the profession named in the Coverage Summary." The policy further provided coverage for claims that result from:
Professional services that you provided or should have provided.
Professional services that were or should have been provided by anyone for whose acts you're legally responsible.
Your service on a formal review board or any similar board or committee.
The coverage summary listed Fors' profession as "CHIROPRACTOR." The policy application also listed as possible choices "Psychologist" or "Other," the last of which required a brief description of related duties. Fors did not select either of these choices as his profession.
Fors argues that his conduct should be covered as a professional service because his chiropractic practice included a "holistic" approach to treatment that could have included treatment of any sexual problems C.J. may have had. This claim fails for several reasons.
First, Fors was insured only as a "chiropractor" under the professional liability policy, a term not specifically defined by the policy. "If the terms of an insurance policy are not specifically defined, they must be given their plain, ordinary, or popular meaning." Smith v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 353 N.W.2d 130, 132 (Minn. 1984) (citation omitted). "Chiropractic" is ordinarily defined as:
A system of therapy in which disease is considered the result of abnormal function of the nervous system. Treatment usually involves manipulation of the spinal column and other body structures.
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