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No Duty to Defend or Indemnify Intentional Acts or Person not Insured
\\nNorma Hudson and the Hudson Revocable Trust (the Trust) appealed from a summary judgment entered in favor of Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company of Arkansas, Inc. (Farm Bureau). In the summary-judgment order, the trial court found as a matter of law that Farm Bureau had no duty of defense or indemnification to the appellants arising from a lawsuit filed against the Trust by Dewayne Evans, Mark White, and Billy Taylor. In Norma Hudson And Hudson Revocable Trust v. Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company Of Arkansas, Inc., No. CV-21-396, Court of Appeals of Arkansas, Division II (October 5, 2022) the Court of Appeal resolved the coverage dispute.
\\nFACTS
\\nBenjamin Hudson (Norma\'s adult grandson) shot and killed two coon dogs and allegedly traumatized a third on property owned by the Trust. The dog owners sued Benjamin Hudson (Benjamin) and the Trust, raising claims for destruction of property, negligence, and tort of outrage and seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The allegations in the complaint against the Trust were that Benjamin was employed to oversee the Trust property, that he was acting in a scope of that authority, and that his outrageous conduct was ratified by the Trust. Norma has two insurance policies with Farm Bureau. One policy is a homeowner\'s policy that insures the property where the shootings occurred, and the other is a property owner\'s policy. After the dog owners\' sued Norma and the Trust made a claim with Farm Bureau for coverage under the insurance policies. Farm Bureau subsequently sued seeking a declaratory judgment that it owed no duty to defend or indemnify Benjamin, Norma, or the Trust based on exclusionary language in the policies relating to bodily injury or property damage arising out of intentional acts.
\\nThe policies provided that Farm Bureau provided that there is no coverage for "bodily injury or property damage caused intentionally by you or any covered person or at the direction of you or any covered person" and that "[t]he expected or unexpected results of such acts are not covered." (Emphasis added.) Farm Bureau asserted that the dog owners\' complaint alleged that Benjamin was acting as an agent of the Trust when he shot the dogs. Farm Bureau argued that because the insurance policies expressly excluded liability coverage for damage arising out of an intentional act, it had no duty to defend or indemnify Norma or the Trust and that it should be granted summary judgment. The trial court agreed and entered an order granting Farm Bureau\'s summary-judgment motion. Specifically, the trial court found: Liability insurance coverage is expressly and unambiguously excluded under both the Homeowner Policy and the Property Owners Policy for bodily injury or property damage arising out of the intentional conduct of an insured. ANALYSIS Once the moving party has established a prima facie entitlement to summary judgment, the opposing party must meet proof with proof and demonstrate the existence of a material issue of fact. On appellate review, the appellate court must determine if summary judgment was appropriate based on whether the evidentiary items presented by the moving party in support of the motion leave a material fact unanswered.
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