Weekley v. Jameson
Weekley v. Jameson
Opinion of the Court
In these consolidated cases, Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Company appeals as of right from an order granting summary dispositions for Donald Weekley and for Donald Jameson pursuant to MCR 2.116(C)(10). We reverse.
Donald Weekley, who was bom in 1971, brought a tort action alleging that his father, Donald Jameson, repeatedly sexually molested him during the years 1983 to 1986. The complaint sought damages for psychological harm. At the time he assaulted his son, Jameson, who suffered a closed head injury in 1978, was living with his mother, Alberta Jameson. Pioneer was Alberta Jameson’s homeowner’s insurer. Jame-son’s attorney tendered Weekley’s lawsuit to Pioneer to defend under the policy. Pioneer denied coverage and refused to undertake the defense of the matter.
Weekley’s action against Jameson was tried in a bench trial. The court found that Jameson had committed fellatio on his son somewhere between twenty-eight and eighty times between 1980 and 1984, and that Weekley had suffered severe emotional injuries as a result. The court further found that Jameson lacked the mental capacity to control his conduct or to comprehend the effect that his sexual misconduct would have on his son and that he did not intend to injure the youth. Weekley was awarded $150,000 in damages. He then obtained a writ of garnishment against Pioneer.
Although the parties raise a number of issues on appeal, we find one to be determinative. We agree with Pioneer that coverage for Jameson’s acts was excluded under the policy because, assuming that Weekley suffered bodily injury as a result of those acts, the injury was intended by Jameson as a matter of law.
For purposes of civil liability insurance, courts should infer the intent to injure as a matter of law when an adult sexually assaults a child. Fire Ins
Generally, [the] courts reason that the inference of the intent to injure should be applied because the act of child molestation is inherently harmful. B B v Continental Ins Co, 8 F3d 1288, 1293 (CA 8, 1993).
“The [inferred-intent] approach . . . stands for the proposition that a person who sexually manipulates a minor cannot expect his insurer to cover his misconduct and cannot obtain such coverage simply by saying that he did not mean any harm. The courts following the majority approach have concluded that sexual misconduct with a minor is objectively so substantially certain to result in harm to the minor victim, that the perpetrator cannot be allowed to escape society’s determination that he or she is expected to know that. Hence, these courts infer the intent to harm as a matter of law in sexual misconduct liability insurance cases involving minors.” [Id., quoting Whitt v DeLeu, 707 F Supp 1011, 1016 (WD Wis, 1989).] [Diehl, supra, pp 689-690, n 4.]
We are of the opinion that the intent to injure should also be inferred as a matter of law where, as here, an adult with a diminished mental capacity sexually assaults a minor. Under the inferred-intent approach adopted by our Supreme Court in Diehl, supra, where the victim of an adult’s sexual misconduct is a minor, the actor’s capacity to know the wrongfulness of his acts is immaterial, and it is also immaterial that the actual injury caused is of a differ
In this case, no one asserts that Jameson was unaware of the nature of his conduct at the time he sexually abused Weekley. As a matter of law, his intent to injure will be inferred, Diehl, supra, and the trial court’s finding of mental infirmity does not affect that inference, Whitt, supra. Compare Miller v Farm Bureau Mutual Ins Co, 218 Mich App 221; 553 NW2d 371 (1996); Auto-Owners Ins Co v Churchman, 440 Mich 560; 489 NW2d 431 (1992). As noted in Diehl, supra, p 689, n 4, quoting B B v Continental Ins Co, supra, an adult who sexually abuses a minor cannot obtain insurance coverage “simply by saying that he did not mean any harm.” Accordingly, we reverse the order of the trial court requiring Pioneer to indemnify Jameson.
Weekley argues that, by failing to raise the issue in its letter to Jameson denying coverage, Pioneer
Our disposition of the above issues makes it unnecessary to address the parties’ remaining claims.
Reversed.
A prior policy issued by Pioneer in effect from December 11, 1978, to December 11, 1981, did not contain an intentional-acts exclusion. However, as noted by the trial court, because Weekley’s complaint in the underlying tort action alleged that Jameson’s sexual assaults began in 1983, Pioneer was not put on notice that there may have been an occurrence covered by the 1978-1981 policy. Accordingly, Pioneer had no duty to defend or indemnify under that policy.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I respectfully dissent. The trial judge, sitting as the factfinder at trial, found that Donald Jameson lacked the mental capacity to control his conduct or to understand the differences between right and wrong, that he could not comprehend the effect that his sexual conduct would have on his son, and that he did not intend to injury Weekley. This “insanity” was the result of a severe head injury that Jameson suffered in 1978. It would be illogical, unsound, and just plain wrong to hold
The majority misreads Fire Ins Exchange v Diehl, 450 Mich 678, 689-690; 545 NW2d 602 (1996). Diehl does not stand for the proposition that just because a person has reached an age sufficient to be termed an “adult,” the person is responsible for the person’s acts regardless of the person’s mental capacity or competency. The Diehl Court states that “where an adult sexually assaults a child” the intent to injure may be inferred as a matter of law. The Court goes on to say that where a child is the assailant, the intent to injure should not be inferred as a matter of law. Id. This would also apply to a person of adult age but with the mentality of a child.
I disagree that the “intent to injure” should be, or can be, inferred as a matter of law where there have been factual findings such as those the trial judge made in this case. This is not just “an adult with a diminished mental capacity.” Here, Jameson was not only “insane” within Michigan’s criminal statutory definition of insanity, but he was of such mental incapacity that he could not intend or expect to cause an injury. This is much more than “simply saying that he did not mean any harm.
This is not contrary to Auto-Owners Ins Co v Churchman, 440 Mich 560; 489 NW2d 431 (1992). In Churchman, the assailant was not being treated for any mental illness or incapacity, and the trial judge made no finding that Mr. Frost (the assailant) did not have the necessary intent to kill. The Court determined:
*42 While Mr. Frost may not have been criminally hable for his acts, he was capable of foreseeing their consequences and understanding what he was doing, i.e., ending another human being’s life. [Id. at 568.]
Here, the trial court, after a trial, made the opposite determination and found Jameson did not intend to injure Weekley.
There is no inequity to this result, and no evidence that this would require the insurer to pay for a loss for which it charged no premium. Jameson received a severe head injury in 1978, which caused him to become insane. Unfortunately, people in society are injured sometimes and sometimes these injuries cause mental incapacity and mental illnesses, which can cause some of these mentally impaired people to harm other people. The frequency and certainty of this occurring is an actuarial calculation and a part of the cost of every insurance policy.
In addition, as the Court explained in Diehl, supra at 688 a policyholder reading the intentional-acts exclusion would reasonably expect that a severely mentally incapacitated person in the household would not be judged by an objective adult standard.
I would affirm.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Weekley v. Jameson; Pioneer State Mutual Insurance Company v. Weekley
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published