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James v. Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company12/12/2003
TO BE PUBLISHED
OPINION AND ORDER AFFIRMING
This is an appeal from the grant of summary judgment in a declaratory judgment and insurance bad faith action denying coverage under two policies of insurance and dismissing all bad faith claims against the insurer. Appellants argue that genuine issues of material fact prevented summary judgment in favor of the insurer. Because we conclude that no insurance coverage existed for the circumstances at issue, we affirm.
In appeal number, 2002-CA-001738-MR, appellants are the administrators of the estates of three students who Michael Carneal, the insured, shot and killed at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky. In appeal number, 2002-CA-001739-MR, the appellant is the Trustee of Michael Carneal's Chapter 7 bankruptcy estate. In both appeals, Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company (Kentucky Farm Bureau), the insurer, is the appellee.
On December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, then 14 years old, took at least four long-barreled guns and one .22 pistol to Heath High School where he was a student. He concealed the long-barreled guns in a bundle of blankets and the pistol in his backpack. While other students gathered in a circle to participate in a morning prayer before classes started, Michael Carneal pulled a clip of ammunition from his pocket and slipped the clip in the .22. Then, he pulled the gun out of his backpack, pointed it at the students in the prayer circle, cocked it, turned off the safety and started shooting. He killed three students in the prayer circle -- Jessica Jeanette James, Kayce Steger and Nicole Marie Hadley -- and injured five other students.
At the time the tragic events of this case happened, Michael Carneal's parents, John and Ann Carneal, maintained homeowner's and umbrella insurance policies through Kentucky Farm Bureau. Under the homeowner's policy, if a claim was made or suit brought against an insured for damages because of bodily injury caused by an "occurrence" to which insurance coverage applied, Kentucky Farm Bureau was obligated to: (1) pay up to their limit of liability for the damages for which the insured was legally liable and (2) provide a defense at their expense by counsel of their choice, even if the suit was groundless, false or fraudulent. The homeowner's policy defined "occurrence" as "an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions which results during the policy period" in bodily injury or property damage. The term, "accident," is not further defined in the policy. Moreover, the homeowner's policy excluded personal liability coverage for bodily injury "which is expected or intended by one or more 'insureds.'" There is no dispute that Michael Carneal was insured under this policy as a child of John and Ann Carneal who resided in their household.
The umbrella policy obligated Kentucky Farm Bureau to pay damages for which the insured became legally responsible due to personal injury caused by an "occurrence." However, the duty to pay under the umbrella coverage "applied only to damages in excess of the underlying limit" of comprehensive personal liability under the homeowner's policy. In addition to the duty to pay, Kentucky Farm Bureau agreed to defend any suit seeking damages for personal injury covered by the policy. The umbrella policy employed a slightly different definition for occurrence than did the homeowner's policy. The umbrella policy defined an "occurrence" as "an accident including the continuous or repeated exposure to conditions, during the policy term," which resulted in personal injury "neither expected nor intended by" the insured. The term, "accident," is not further define
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