Group Insurance v. Czopek

This is an action for declaratory judgment, seeking to determine the insurer’s obligation to defend or indemnify its insured for his liability for injuries he inflicted upon two police officers when he resisted arrest.

We are called upon to consider whether the injuries caused by defendant Arthur Smith’s assault on two police officers constituted an "occurrence” as required by plaintiff’s homeowner’s policy. We also consider whether intoxication can turn an intentional act into an accidental one under the insurance policy language.

I

On New Year’s Eve, 1983, eighteen-year-old Arthur Smith went…