Mutual Fire Ins. Co. v. Hancock

• Decision Date: 22 December 1993
• Citation: 634 A.2d 1312
• Parties: MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, v. Thomas N. HANCOCK et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 1312

634 A.2d 1312

MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY, v. Thomas N. HANCOCK et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued Sept. 21, 1993.

Decided Dec. 22, 1993.

John H. O'Neil, Jr. (orally), Smith, Elliott, Smith & Garmey, Saco, for plaintiff.

Theodore K. Hoch (orally), Bath, Robert V. Hoy, Platz & Thompson, P.A., Lewiston, for defendant.

Before ROBERTS, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD, COLLINS, RUDMAN and DANA, JJ.

RUDMAN, Justice.

Mutual Fire Insurance Company ("Mutual") appeals from the judgment entered after a jury-waived trial in the Superior Court (Lincoln County, Bradford, J.) holding that Mutual had a duty under Thomas Hancock's homeowner's insurance policy to defend and indemnify Hancock, who, while in a state of alcoholic blackout, beat and raped Jane Doe. ¹ We vacate the decision of the trial court.

On November 14, 1990, Hancock raped and brutally beat Jane Doe over the course of several hours. Prior to that night, Hancock and Doe had been living together and had no history of violence. The relationship was deteriorating, however, because Doe objected to Hancock's basement marijuana cultivation. She had threatened to leave him if he did not give up his garden. That night, Hancock was drinking and wanted to talk about their relationship; Doe was packing for a vacation with her family and did not want to talk. Her refusal to discuss their situation infuriated Hancock.

In the early evening, Hancock hit Doe for the first time. Over the next several hours, he struck her repeatedly with a closed fist, breaking bones and inflicting permanent injuries, and raped her. At intervals during the beating, Hancock would demand that Doe mix him another drink; Doe complied. At no time did Hancock stagger or lose the ability to speak coherently. He later pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated assault and gross sexual assault.

Mutual insured Hancock's home under a so-called "homeowner's policy." The policy contained standard language, offering liability coverage for "occurrences"--i.e., "accidents," and denying coverage for "bodily injury or property damage ... which is expected or intended by the insured." When Doe brought a civil action against Hancock for injuries she sustained as a result of Hancock's actions, Mutual defended Hancock, but requested a declaratory judgment that Hancock's actions were not covered by the policy. The trial court heard the underlying civil action and the declaratory judgment action together. Mutual contended inter alia that Hancock intended the injuries to Doe or at least the injuries were to be expected and therefore the policy did not provide coverage. The trial court rejected Mutual's assertion that Hancock's undisputed actions established the requisite intent or expectation and ruled that because Hancock had been too intoxicated to "intend" the injuries, Mutual owed Hancock a duty to defend and indemnify. The trial court stated that Hancock's "acts were not committed intentionally or knowingly. They were committed without any conscious awareness. His mental state was at best reckless."

On appeal, Mutual challenges as clearly erroneous the trial court's ruling that Mutual failed to "carr[y] its burden of proving that Hancock's acts were intended or expected." We agree with Mutual that the evidence before the trial court compelled the conclusion that Hancock intended or expected the harm to Doe. See Harmon v. Emerson, 425 A.2d 978, 982 (Me.1981). The Superior Court expressly found that Hancock "repeatedly hit [Doe] with a closed fist in the mouth, nose, eyes and forehead, ... forced her to remove her clothes and have sexual intercourse with him, and choked her to stop her screams for help." Nevertheless, because the court also found that Hancock committed these acts "during a period of extreme intoxication," the court ruled that Mutual failed to carry its burden to prove the acts were intentional or expected.

Absent a rare admission by the party, a party's intent can only be inferred from his physical acts. See State v. McEachern, 431 A.2d 39, 42 (Me.1981) ("rarely, if ever, [is there] direct evidence of a defendant's mental state"). The fact that Hancock was intoxicated and claims to be unable to recall his violent acts does not negate the overwhelming evidence of physical violence. "[O]ne person cannot accidentally or innocently compel another to submit to sexual intercourse." State v. Reed, 479 A.2d 1291, 1296 (Me.1984). Similarly, a person cannot accidentally hit another person repeatedly with a closed fist. See State Mutual Ins. Co. v. Bragg, 589 A.2d 35, 38 (Me.1991) (murder can only be intentional and therefore excluded from insurance coverage); Perreault v. Maine Bonding & Casualty Co., 568 A.2d 1100, 1101 (Me.1990) (child sexual abuse can only be intentional). By proving these physical acts, Mutual carried its burden to prove that Hancock intended or expected the harm to Doe. Therefore, the policy exclusion applies to excuse Mutual from its duty to indemnify Hancock for the damages awarded to Doe. As a matter of law, a systematic, hours-long brutal beating is not a "reckless" act; it can only be intentional and the injuries resulting therefrom expected. On this evidence, the conclusion that Hancock intended the harm to Doe, or at least expected it, despite his intoxication, is compelling.

The entry is:

Judgment vacated.

ROBERTS, CLIFFORD, COLLINS and DANA, JJ., concurring.

GLASSMAN, Justice dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. In finding that the tortious acts of Hancock "can only be intentional and the injuries resulting therefrom expected," the Court not only fails to grant proper deference to the Superior Court in its factfinding rule, but also determines that as a matter of law the issue is precluded from litigation in the present civil action. After considering the evidence, the trial court found that [T]he events which followed Hancock's trip to the basement were acts committed while he was in a blackout from having consumed eight to ten drinks of equal parts of rum and coke as well as the added effects of smoking marijuana. His acts were not committed intentionally or knowingly. They were not committed with any conscious awareness. His mental state at best was reckless.

We will not overturn a trial court's finding of fact unless the finding is clearly erroneous, i.e., not supported by competent evidence in the record. Morin Building Products v. Atlantic Design and Construction, 615 A.2d 239, 241 (Me.1992). In this case, while a reasonable factfinder might have reached a different conclusion than that of the trial court, there is ample evidence in the record to support the trial court's finding on this issue. Accordingly, it cannot be said as a matter of law that the trial court erred in so determining. Fournier v. Rochambeau Club, 611 A.2d 578, 579 (Me.1992).

In arguing to the contrary, Mutual relies on the fact that Hancock pleaded guilty to the offenses of gross sexual assault, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 253 (Supp.1992), and aggravated assault, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 208 (1983). In Beale v. Chisholm, 626 A.2d 345 (Me.1993), we held that a criminal conviction for manslaughter did not preclude a defendant from litigating the issues not essential to that conviction in a subsequent civil proceeding. Id. at 347. We so held on the well-established principle that it is only issues essential to the conviction that are precluded from litigation in an ensuing civil action. Id.; see also Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 27 comment h (1982) (if judgment not dependent on issues determined, relitigation not precluded and such determinations have characteristics of dicta); 18 Wright, Miller & Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure: Jurisdiction § 4421 (1981) (critical distinction between findings essential to a judgment and those that are not, for purposes of issue preclusion).

Here, intent was not essential to Hancock's conviction for either offense and, accordingly, neither conviction was predicated on a determination of that issue. The statute governing the gross sexual assault charge recites that "[a] person is guilty of gross sexual assault if that person engages in a sexual act with another person and ... [t]he other person submits as a result of compulsion." 17-A ...