Interinsurance Exch. of the Automobile Club v. Flores

Facts

While in his car and stopped at an intersection, Eric Michael Sanders was punched in the face by a pedestrian. Sanders later told his friend Roger Perez of the incident. Perez suggested vengeance. Perez got into Sanders’s van with a gun, and Sanders drove to the scene of the incident. While driving by the intersection scene, Perez shot David Flores, who was standing on the corner. After, Sanders confessed to having knowledge that someone was likely to be shot by Perez. Thereafter, Sanders pleaded nolo contendere to aiding and abetting an assault with a deadly weapon. Rosemary Flores, Defendant, on behalf of herself and as guardian ad litem for David, brought suit against Sanders and others for conspiracy, negligence, and battery. Each contention was substantiated by the allegation that Sanders and Perez “agreed to hunt down, shoot, and either kill or maim” the person who punched Sanders. Also, the Inter insurance Exchange of the Automobile Club (“IEAC”) filed an action for declaratory relief to determine whether it bore any responsibility for defending or indemnifying Sanders in Flores’s suit. Sanders’s van was insured by the IEAC. Under the policy, IEAC was responsible for damages for bodily injury “caused by an occurrence arising out of the … use” of the insured vehicle. The declaratory suit went to trial on stipulated facts, which contained a stipulation that Perez had intentionally shot Flores from Sanders’s van. The trial court ruled that the IEAC was not responsible to Sanders. Flores appealed.