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Erie Insurance Group v. Buckner9/16/1997
as no effect on the applicability of the "intended or expected" exclusion of his insurance policy.
In sum, we hold that Buckner should have expected that punching Weston in the face would cause injury and therefore, the "intended or expected" exclusion precludes coverage of the incident under the Erie insurance policy. Since an insurer is relieved of the duty to defend "when it clearly appears from the initial pleading the insurer would not be liable under the policy contract for any judgment based upon the allegations," Reisen v. Aetna Life and Cas. Co., 225 Va. 327, 302 S.E.2d 529, 531 (Va. 1983), the trial court properly held that the 21 January 1995 incident was not covered under the terms of the homeowner's policy and Erie had no duty to defend Buckner in the pending litigation . Accordingly we affirm the trial court's order of summary judgment in Erie's favor.
Affirmed.
Judge GREENE concurs.
Judge TIMMONS-GOODSON concurs in the result with separate opinion.
TIMMONS-GOODSON Concurring.
I agree with the majority that the trial court did not err in granting Erie's motion for summary judgment, because the law of the state of Virginia must be applied to these facts. However, the issue of the apparent inability of one to defend oneself against a perceived threat concerns me. I believe that injury resulting from an act taken in self-defense is not intended nor expected as these terms are commonly understood. The exigency of the circumstances necessitating one to defend oneself deprives one of any opportunity to calculate whether the actions taken in defense would result in injury to the attacker. Further, one should not be required to engage in such an exercise when confronted with an imminent attack.
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