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Meridian Insurance Co. v. Simon Zepeda9/19/2000
FOR PUBLICATION
OPINION - FOR PUBLICATION
Meridian Insurance brought a declaratory judgment action claiming it had no duty to indemnify its insured, Simon Zepeda, in a personal injury suit brought by shooting victim, Ernest King, after a criminal jury found Zepeda guilty of aggravated battery. Zepeda's insurance policy through Meridian excluded coverage for "expected and intended acts." Meridian alleges that both Zepeda and King were collaterally estopped from litigating the issue of Zepeda's intent after the criminal jury necessarily found his acts to be intentional when finding him guilty of aggravated battery. Because we find that Zepeda's criminal conviction collaterally estopped him from relitigating the issue of his intent, we reverse. However, we remand to the trial court to allow King to litigate the issue of Zepeda's intent. Because King never had a full and fair opportunity to litigate this issue in Zepeda's criminal trial, collateral estoppel does not preclude him from doing so now. Finally, in the retrial of this case, neither King nor Zepeda should be judicially estopped from alleging that the shooting was accidental.
Facts and Procedural History
Zepeda shot King with a .22 caliber rifle causing King to become paralyzed from the neck down. Subsequently, Zepeda was charged and convicted of aggravated battery for shooting King. A week before the criminal trial ended, King filed a personal injury action against Zepeda, claiming that Zepeda negligently discharged the rifle, causing his injuries.
Zepeda's insurer, Meridian, assumed Zepeda's defense in the personal injury action with a reservation of rights and filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against Zepeda and King. In its complaint, Meridian alleged that because Zepeda had been found guilty of aggravated battery and his insurance policy excluded coverage if the injuries were "expected or intended" by the insured, it was not required to provide coverage for Zepeda's acts.
When Zepeda failed to appear in the declaratory judgment proceeding, Meridian obtained a default judgment against Zepeda. In the default judgment order, the court found that Zepeda's intentional acts caused King's injuries. Thereafter, Meridian filed a motion for summary judgment in which it argued that because the default judgment determined that Zepeda had acted intentionally in shooting King, both Zepeda and King were collaterally estopped from claiming that Zepeda's acts were negligent. Later, the default judgment was set aside and Meridian's summary judgment motion was denied.
Subsequently, Meridian requested permission to file a second summary judgment motion on whether Zepeda's criminal conviction barred Zepeda and King from relitigating the issue of Zepeda's intent. Meridian alleged that because its first summary judgment motion relied solely on the preclusive effects of the default judgment, it should be able to argue the preclusive effect of the criminal conviction in the second motion. The court denied the motion.
Ultimately, the personal injury action and the declaratory judgment action were consolidated, and the parties agreed that the declaratory judgment action would be tried first. The parties further stipulated that if the jury found coverage, Meridian would be required to pay King its policy limit of $300,000.
During the jury trial, Zepeda's conviction for aggravated battery was admitted into evidence, and both Zepeda and King testified about the shooting. At the conclusion of the evidence, Meridian moved for judgment on the evidence, contending that Zepeda and King were collaterally estopped from litigating Zepeda's intent because the issu
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