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Bennett v. Ragon3/24/2005
Disposition: Affirmed.
In this appeal, we consider whether a commercial general liability insurance policy provides coverage for damages claimed in this wrongful death suit. The trial court found the policy offered no coverage, finding the policy's assault and battery exclusion was applicable. We affirm.
I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Curtis Ragon and his wife, Martha Ragon, owned and operated a business, known as Ragon's Grocery and Bar, located in the Parish of St. Helena. The Ragons' house was located near a building, which housed their grocery store and bar. In the early morning hours of November 27, 1997, while Mr. Ragon was sleeping in his house, Mrs. Ragon woke him and alerted him that someone was in his pickup truck. The truck had been parked between the house and the grocery store. Mr. Ragon rushed to his front door and saw that someone was backing up his truck. Assuming the driver was attempting to steal his truck, he went back into his house and picked up a loaded shotgun. When he returned outside, the truck was moving backwards around an oak tree. The front of the truck faced the driveway that led to a nearby highway. Mr. Ragon was standing about thirty to forty feet from the truck.
Mr. Ragon testified that because it was dark, he could not see who was driving the truck. Mr. Ragon decided to aim the shotgun up in the air and fire a "warning shot." He testified that he purposefully shot to try to scare the driver. Mr. Ragon stated that after he fired the first "warning shot," the driver of the truck "put it forward, was fixing to take off." He explained that when the truck started to turn towards the driveway, he fired another "warning shot." According to Mr. Ragon, the driver "took off down the driveway [away from him]," spinning its tires. Because the truck was traveling faster than before, Mr. Ragon perceived that the driver had heard the warning shots. Since the driver continued to proceed down the driveway towards the highway, Mr. Ragon thought his warning shots had not been effective. He thereafter attempted to shoot out one of the truck's tires by firing a third shot. He lowered his gun and aimed for the truck's left, rear tire. After he shot, the truck came to a rest at the edge of his driveway, and he realized the driver had been shot.
On the evening before the shooting, Anita Quinlan, her boyfriend, Billy McGruff, and McGruff's sister and brother-in-law, Brenda and Wade Allen, were patrons of the Ragons' bar. After drinking and socializing for hours, they left the bar premises. It is undisputed that Quinlan was intoxicated. McGruff drove to his nearby home alone, and the Allens followed in a separate vehicle. Upon arriving at the house, the Allens realized that Quinlan was not with McGruff, so they began looking for her. They returned to the parking lot of the bar twice looking for her but did not find her. The following morning, they were notified that Quinlan was dead, having been shot by Mr. Ragon.
Plaintiffs, Claude Allen Bennett and Tessie Bennett, legal representative of Quinlan's minor child, Kimberly Curtis, filed a wrongful death suit against the Ragons, who were doing business as Ragon's Grocery and Bar, and Essex Insurance Company ("Essex"), which issued a policy of commercial general liability insurance to the Ragons. Essex denied liability, asserting that its "assault and battery" exclusion precluded coverage for any injuries arising out of Mr. Ragon's assault and battery of Quinlan.
Thereafter, the trial court signed an order of dismissal, with prejudice, relative to all of plaintiffs' claims against the Ragons and Ragon's Grocery and Bar with reservation of plaintiffs' rights as t
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