LARRY CZARNOWSKI V STATE FARM FIRE & CASUALTY CO
Annotate this Case
Download PDF
STATE OF MICHIGAN
COURT OF APPEALS
LARRY CZARNOWSKI,
UNPUBLISHED
January 18, 2000
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v
No. 216599
Ottawa Circuit Court
LC No. 98-030086 NO
STATE FARM FIRE AND CASUALTY
COMPANY,
Defendant-Appellee.
Before: Sawyer, P.J., and Gribbs and McDonald, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
In this insurance liability case, plaintiff appeals as of right from a December 8, 1998, order of
declaratory judgment in favor of defendant which ordered that defendant has no duty to indemnify or
pay the consent judgment of $65,000 entered into by plaintiff and defendant’s insured in an underlying
lawsuit. We affirm.
Plaintiff, a police officer, filed suit against Steven Scott for personal injuries sustained when
Scott resisted arrest. Scott’s insurance company, defendant State Farm, initially retained an attorney to
investigate and defend the lawsuit brought against Scott but subsequently denied coverage to defend
Scott in the matter. After negotiations between plaintiff and Scott, it was stipulated and agreed upon
that judgment shall enter in favor of plaintiff Czarnowski and against defendant Scott in the underlying
case in the amount of $65,000.
Plaintiff subsequently filed a complaint against defendant insurance company seeking a
declaratory judgment that Scott was insured within the provisions of defendant’s policy and that
defendant had a duty to pay the $65,000 judgment rendered against Scott. Defendant moved for
declaratory judgment, pursuant to MCR 2.605, against plaintiff and plaintiff moved for declaratory
judgment against defendant. The court granted defendant’s motion for declaratory judgment.
Plaintiff argues that defendant should have been required to provide coverage for the underlying
judgment against insured Steven Scott pursuant to defendant’s policy of insurance because the action of
the insured constituted an “occurrence” within the meaning of the insurance policy. An insurance policy
-1
constitutes a contract between two parties. Fire Ins Exchange v Diehl, 450 Mich 678, 683; 545
NW2d 602 (1996). Therefore, the court must review the parties’ contract when deciding whether an
insurance policy covers a particular act. Id. This review requires a two-part process. Id. First, the
court must review the “occurrence” section of the policy to determine if it includes the particular act. Id.
Second, if the particular act is included in the “occurrence” section, the court must then review the
exclusion section of the policy to determine if coverage is denied under any of the policy’s exclusions.
Id. In this case, the insurance contract provides that State Farm will defend and pay for claims made or
suits brought against an insured for damages because of bodily injury which is caused by an
“occurrence.” “Occurrence” is defined in the policy as an “accident.”
Since there is no definition of “accident” in this insurance policy, this Court must interpret this
term of the policy in accordance with its commonly used meaning. Frankenmuth Mutual Ins Co v
Masters, 460 Mich 105, 113-114; 595 NW2d 832 (1999). Recent court cases have interpreted
“accident” to mean “ ‘an undesigned contingency, a casualty, a happening by chance, something out of
the usual course of things, unusual, fortuitous, not anticipated, and not naturally to be expected.’ ” Id. at
114, quoting Arco Industries Corp v American Motorists Ins Co, 448 Mich 395, 404-405; 531
NW2d 168 (1995). The definition of “accident” must be evaluated from the standpoint of insured
rather than from the standpoint of the injured party. Frankenmuth, supra at 114. The appropriate
focus of the term “accident” must be on both the injury-causing act or event as well as on its relation to
the resulting personal injury. Id. at 115. It is not mandatory for an insured to act unintentionally in order
for the act to constitute an “accident” and thus an “occurrence.” Id. Therefore, when an insured does
act intentionally, problems arise in distinguishing between intentional acts that can be classified as
“accidents,” and thus “occurrences,” and those intentional acts which cannot be classified as such. Id.
“In such cases, a determination must be made whether the consequences of the insured’s intentional act
‘either were intended by the insured or reasonably should have been expected because of the direct risk
of harm intentionally created by the insured’s actions. . . . [W]hen an insured’s intentional actions create
a direct risk of harm, there can be no liability coverage for any resulting . . . injury, despite the lack of an
actual intent to . . . injure.’ ” Id., quoting Auto Club Group Ins Co v Marzonie, 447 Mich 624, 648
649; 527 NW2d 760 (1994).
Applying these principles to the instant case and viewed from the standpoint of the insured, the
resisting of arrest, which was the underlying event, was caused by the insured’s intentional act. This is
substantiated by the following evidence in the case. Scott, the insured, was charged with resisting arrest
and this charge was dismissed only after the insured pleaded guilty to operating under the influence of
intoxicating liquor, third offense. Plaintiff testified that the insured resisted arrest when plaintiff tried to
arrest him. The insured testified that he pulled away from plaintiff when plaintiff tried to arrest him.
Also, as the insured and plaintiff were wrestling on the ground, the insured was not subdued until a
bystander assisted plaintiff. Even though the insured asserts that he did not intend to injure plaintiff,
there is no question that the insured’s intentional act of resisting arrest created a direct risk of harm that
reasonably should have been expected. Therefore, the insured’s act cannot be characterized as an
“accident” and, as such, there was no “occurrence” for purposes of the insurance policy.
-2
Because there was no occurrence, declaratory judgment was properly granted on that basis
alone. Therefore, we need not address the other two grounds cited by the trial court.
Regarding plaintiff’s argument that because defendant breached its duty to defend its insured, it
cannot now deny coverage after the judgment has been entered, this issue was not properly raised at
trial and is, therefore, waived on appeal. Napier v Jacobs, 429 Mich 222, 232-233; 414 NW2d 862
(1987).
Affirmed.
/s/ David H. Sawyer
/s/ Roman S. Gribbs
/s/ Gary R. McDonald
-3
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.