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James v. Paul6/20/2000
Appeal From: Circuit Court of Jackson County, Hon. Jack E. Gant
Opinion Vote: REVERSED. Lowenstein, Ulrich, Spinden, Smart, JJ., concur. Smart, J., concurs in separate opinion. Smith, J., concurs in separate opinion. Ellis, J., dissents in separate opinion, in which Breckenridge, C.J., Stith and Howard, JJ., concur. Riederer, J., not voting, as he resigned from the court prior to disposition.
Opinion:
This case arises out of a garnishment action instituted by Danny T. James against State Farm Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, and State Farm's insured, Robert M. Paul. The garnishment action follows an uncontested tort judgment pursuant to section 537.065, RSMo 1994, obtained by plaintiff James against Paul, who has not appealed.
The factual events giving rise to the underlying tort action occurred on the evening of June 8, 1989, when Mr. Paul suspected that his estranged wife, Kayleen Paul, was seeing another individual. After consuming a considerable amount of alcohol, Mr. Paul went to her residence in Independence, Missouri. He observed her through the window having sex with Danny James. Mr. Paul attempted, unsuccessfully, to break in the front door. He returned to his truck where he retrieved a knife, went through the garage where he broke the kitchen window and climbed into the house. He saw Ms. Paul in the kitchen and continued to the front room where he found Mr. James. He stabbed Mr. James three times with the knife. Both were taken to the hospital where Mr. James was treated for serious stab wounds and Mr. Paul was treated for the injuries he received from breaking the glass window.
Because of the incident, Paul was charged with first-degree assault, a class B felony pursuant to Section 565.050. He pleaded guilty to this offense on August 8, 1989. During the course of the plea hearing, Paul told the court that he was pleading guilty "because [he was] in fact guilty." Paul was sentenced to five years imprisonment. The execution of Paul's sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for five years. A condition of his probation included incarceration for 14 days in the Jackson County Jail.
At the time of this incident, Paul had a policy of homeowner's insurance with State Farm, which provided Paul with personal liability insurance coverage. Section II, coverage L, of the policy provided in relevant part:
If a claim is made or a suit is brought against an insured for damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which this coverage applies, caused by an occurrence, we will:
1. pay up to our limit of liability for the damages for which the insured is legally liable; and
2. provide a defense at our expense by counsel of our choice.
The word "occurrence" was defined in the policy as: " n accident . . . which results in . . . bodily injury . . . during the policy period." Section II of the policy also contained the following exclusions from liability coverage:
SECTION II--EXCLUSIONS
Coverage L . . . [does] not apply to:
(a) bodily injury or property damage
(1) which is either expected or intended by an insured; or
(2) to any person or property which is the result of willful and malicious acts of an insured.
Following the stabbing incident, Paul notified State Farm of the potential claim and sought liability coverage for himself for any claims made by James. Eventually, State Farm denied coverage.
On February 9, 1992, James filed a civil action in the Circuit Court of Jackson County alleging that Paul negligently stabbed James. He charged Paul with carele
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Missouri Personal Injury Attorneys
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