Cretens

MEMORANDUM

Jeff Poer (Poer) was convicted of voluntary manslaughter of his wife, Kim Poer. Kim Poer’s parents and daughter, collectively the Cretens, won a $1.5 million judgment in a wrongful death action against Poer. After the judgment, Poer signed over all possible rights against State Farm Fire and Casualty Company (State Farm) to the Cretens. The Cretens sued State Farm for breach of contract and bad faith because State Farm denied coverage for Poer’s criminal act under the intentional acts exclusion and the household exclusion of the family’s homeowner’s insurance policy. The Cretens appeal the district court’s summary judgment in favor of State Farm on all of the Cretens’ claims.

In the present case, the Cretens contend that Poer’s manslaughter conviction does not require denial of coverage under the policy’s intentional acts exclusion, which applies to acts “either expected or intended by an insured.” A.R.S. § 13-807 precludes a convicted perpetrator or his assignees from denying, in a subsequent civil case, the essential elements of the crime for which the perpetrator was convicted, including the “minimally sufficient mental state necessary” for conviction of the…