Question: Are intentional acts like punching someone covered by insurance?
Answer: Insurance is there to protect an insured against liability for causing injury to another in an accidents. An “accident” is usually defined as an unusual, unexpected, and unforeseen event, or as an unexpected happening without an intention. Additionally, the lack of intentionality is implicit in the meaning of “accident”. Insurance policies usually exclude intentional acts. Intent to injure can be inferred in certain situations where actual intent cannot be shown, if the nature and character of the act are such that intent to cause harm must be inferred as a matter of law. This rule applies only where reason mandates that from the very nature of the act, harm to the injured party must have been intended. The word intentional “refers … to the volitional performance of an act with an intent to cause injury, although not necessarily the precise injury or severity of damage that in fact occurs.” Our supreme court has held that conduct falls within an insurance policy’s intentional act exclusion where an insured deliberately commits an act which any reasonable person would deem calculated to cause injury.