Ohio Casualty Insurance v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co.

In this action for declaratory relief between two insurance carriers we confront yet another dispute whose origin may be traced to State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Partridge (1973) 10 Cal.3d 94 [ 109 Cal.Rptr. 811 , 514 P.2d 123 ], The question presented is whether one or both of two insurance policies, i.e., a homeowner’s policy with personal liability cov erage and a yacht policy with coverage for bodily injury, cover a particular injury. The trial court found the homeowner’s policy, issued by defendant Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company (Hartford) to Geoffrey Daly (Daly), did not provide coverage for an accident allegedly caused by Daly’s negligent supervision of a passenger on his boat. We disagree and shall reverse.

Facts

On July 27, 1979, Louise Diepenbrock (Diepenbrock) and other students attending a Jesuit High School summer session were on an outing at Folsom Lake. They were passengers on a 1978 Sea Ray boat owned and operated by Daly, a parent of one of the students. In addition to Daly, the students were accompanied by Michael Mclntee and Michael Melanson, both teachers at Jesuit.

In the afternoon the Sea Ray was in the middle of the lake; the engine…