Lititz Mutual Insurance v. Bell

RODOWSKY, Judge.

This is a liability insurance coverage case that was decided in the circuit court on summary judgment. The case presents another effort by a tort plaintiff to avoid the operation of an exclusion for bodily injury that is expected or intended by the insured. Here the plaintiffs submission is that, due to a psychiatric disorder, the alleged insured had no intent to injure the plaintiff when the former struck the latter with his fist. As we explain below, this attempt to convert a battery into negligence fails on the facts and the law.

I

In December 1991, the alleged insured, John…