Braxton v. U.S. Fire Ins. Co.

• Decision Date: 12 April 1983
• Docket Number: No. 45263,45263
• Citation: 651 S.W.2d 616
• Parties: Terry BRAXTON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. UNITED STATES FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 616

651 S.W.2d 616

Terry BRAXTON, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. UNITED STATES FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 45263.

Missouri Court of Appeals,

Eastern District,

Division Four.

April 12, 1983.

Motion for Rehearing and/or Transfer to

Supreme Court Denied May 13, 1983.

Application to Transfer Denied

June 30, 1983.

Theodore H. Hoffman, St. Louis, for defendant-appellant.

Moser, Marsalek, Carpenter, Cleary, Jaeckel & Keaney, St. Louis, for plaintiff-respondent.

PUDLOWSKI, Presiding Judge.

Respondent Terry Braxton brought this action in equity against appellant United States Fire Insurance Co. Respondent sought to satisfy a judgment against one Aaron Blunt out of the proceeds of a liability insurance policy issued to Blunt by appellant. The appellant maintained that Blunt's liability to the respondent was not covered by the policy. The trial court found that respondent's injuries were covered by the policy. We affirm.

Respondent was shot and injured by an intoxicated gas station attendant following an altercation over the making of change. Respondent brought suit against Aaron Blunt, the owner of the gas station, on a theory of negligent supervision. Because the record of that trial was not made part of the record on this appeal, our knowledge of the facts involved is rather sparse. The record before us does show that the gun belonged to the attendant; that the attendant was intoxicated; and that the jury found against Blunt on the theory that he permitted the attendant to continue work even though he knew or should have known it was likely the attendant would injure a customer. Respondent obtained a judgment against Blunt for $100,000.

Appellant, Blunt's liability insurance carrier, denied coverage under its policy, which contained the following exclusion, among others:

This insurance does not apply ....

... to bodily injury and property damage arising out of the ownership or use of any firearm.

The respondent brought this equitable action against the insurer to obtain satisfaction of the judgment. Both parties submitted memoranda of law to the trial court. The respondent argued that nothing in the insurance policy excluded coverage for Blunt's negligence in supervising his employees and that the policy by its terms afforded comprehensive coverage for any liability not specifically excluded. The appellant argued that the plain language of the firearm exclusion disclaimed coverage for all liability resulting from the ownership or use of firearms regardless of the theory on which such liability was based. The trial court found for the respondent and the appellant brought this appeal.

The policy in issue is a "special multi-peril" comprehensive property and liability insurance policy. It provides, in pertinent part, that:

The Company will pay on behalf of the insured all sums which the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which this insurance applies, caused by an occurrence and arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of the insured premises and all operations necessary or incidental to the business of the named insured conducted at or from the insured premises ....

An "occurrence" is defined in the policy as "an accident, including an injurious exposure to conditions, which results, during the policy period, in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured." The policy identifies "the insured" as Aaron Blunt, an individual, "but only with respect to the conduct of a business of which he is the sole proprietor." The "Exclusions" portion of the policy states that "this insurance does not apply" to bodily injury or property damage "arising out of" certain enumerated acts done "by," "for," or "on behalf of" the named insured. The exclusion here disputed was added to the policy by typewritten endorsement. It disclaims coverage for "bodily injury and property damage arising out of the ownership or use of any firearm." Unlike the other exclusionary provisions, it does not specify whether the "ownership or use" must be by, for, or on behalf of the named insured.

In appellant's view, the policy does not provide coverage for Blunt's liability to respondent. Its argument can be summed up as an uncomplicated syllogism: Respondent admits that his injury was caused by a bullet discharged from a firearm; the policy excludes from coverage any bodily injury arising out of the use of a firearm; therefore, respondent's injury is not covered by the policy. Appellant maintains that Penn v. Travelers Insurance Co., 225 S.W. 1033 (Mo.App.1920) is controlling. That case involved an accident insurance policy which excluded from coverage any "accident, injury, disability or death resulting wholly or partly from ... firearms." The parties stipulated that the insured was killed by the discharge of his own shotgun when he stumbled while trying to cross a wire fence. The plaintiff in Penn argued that the cause of death was the accidental stumbling and not the discharge of the gun. The court held that the policy provided no coverage under the stipulated facts, since whatever the cause of the gun's discharge, it was undisputed that the result of the gun's discharge was the insured's death.

The respondent significantly points out that the policy construed in Penn, unlike appellant's policy, did not restrict the exclusion to injuries arising out of "ownership or use" of a firearm. Instead it used the comprehensive phrase "resulting wholly or partly" from firearms, thus stating unequivocally that the exclusion would apply despite the existence of other concurrent or intervening causes.

We believe that the case before us is factually more similar to the later case of Cochran v. Standard Accident Ins. Co. of Detroit, 219 Mo.App. 322, 271 S.W. 1011 (1925). That case involved an accident insurance policy which provided that: "... no benefits will be paid for injuries ... received under or in consequence of any of the following conditions: ... while engaged in aerial navigation, hunting, fishing, or in exploring expeditions, or under any circumstances from firearms of any kind, explosives, war or riot ...." The insured was killed while riding on a train when an insane man suddenly and without warning fired a pistol. The court found that the insured's death was covered under the policy. It held that a reasonably intelligent person perusing the terms of the contract could understand that it excluded coverage only while the insured was engaged in handling or using firearms, or participating in some dangerous activity in which he was likely to be injured by them. Id. 271 S.W. at 1013. The court noted that exclusions from coverage must "be accomplished by language unequivocal in its meaning." Id. Because the language in the policy at issue was reasonably susceptible of two interpretations, the court was required to apply the construction most favorable to the insured and this is especially true when the clause in question attempts to limit or exclude coverage under the policy. Heshion Motors v. Western International Hotels, 600 S.W.2d 526, 537 (Mo.App.1980). The exclusion at issue in this case does not unequivocally exclude acts arising out of the ownership or use of a firearm by any person under any circumstances. A reasonable person reading the exclusion in context could fairly conclude that the exclusion applied only if the insured himself owned or used a firearm in connection with his business, or if someone else used the firearm "for" him or "on his behalf." Here the insured did not own or use the firearm, nor was it used "for" him or "in his behalf." We find that the exclusion did not apply under these circumstances and it is clear that the trial court acted properly within the constraints as heretofore set out by applying a construction which favored the insured.

In addition, the respondent argues that the trial court could also have found coverage on the theory that the insured's negligent supervision was a separate and non-excluded cause of respondent's injuries. Although no Missouri cases are precisely on point, it is widely accepted that where an insured risk and an excluded risk constitute concurrent proximate causes of an accident, a liability insurer is liable so long as one of the causes is covered by the policy. State Farm Auto. Ins. Co. v. Partridge, 10 Cal.3d 94, 109 Cal.Rptr. 811, 514 P.2d 123 (1973). Partridge involved a homeowner's policy which excluded coverage for injuries arising out of the use of an automobile. A passenger in the insured's car was injured when a pistol discharged as the car traveled over a rough section of road. The insured had negligently modified the trigger mechanism of the pistol to give it "hair trigger action." The court found that the policy applied despite the automobile use exclusion since the negligent modification of the gun and the use of the automobile were concurrent proximate causes of the passenger's injury, only one of which was excluded from the policy.

A similar result was reached in Le Jeune v. Allstate Ins. Co., 365 So.2d 471 (La.1978). In that case, a deputy sheriff assigned to escort a funeral cortege failed to stop his vehicle and properly secure an intersection. His negligence resulted in a collision between the hearse and another vehicle. The sheriff's professional liability policy excluded coverage for injuries "arising out of the ownership, operation, or use" of motor vehicles. The court found coverage under the policy, stating that "the exclusion clause does not apply where the insured's act is a result of negligence independent of, even though concurring with, his use of an automobile." Id. at 479; accord, Curry v. Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office, 405 So.2d 1387 (La.App.1981).

To the same effect is Unigard Mutual Ins. Co. v. Argonaut Ins. Co., 20 Wash.App. 261, 579 P.2d 1015 (1978). In that case, a child broke into a...