State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Wicka

OPINION

GARDEBRING, Justice.

This case raises two issues, the first legal and the second evidentiary, involving whether an intentional act exclusion of a homeowner’s liability policy applies to the conduct of an insured who, because of mental illness, may lack the capacity to form the intent to injure. In light of public policy favoring coverage where the injury threatens the general public, we construe the policy language as providing coverage where, because of mental illness, the insured’s act is the product of a failure of the insured’s volitional or cognitive capacities.

I

On the early…