In recent years, bullying has become a large problem forschools. If you have children or just like to watch cartoons, thenyou have probably noticed the anti-bullying advertisements onCartoon Network or Boomerang. They encourage students being bulliedor who see another student being bullied to get an adult tointervene.

Technology has made bullying much more pervasive than the oldbullying that existed in a neighborhood, playground, or individualschool. Facebook and other social-media sites have made it easy formany people to take part in the bullying or harassment of anindividual student. 

Tragic Consequences
Unfortunately, theseactions can have serious consequences: A number of students havecommitted suicide because of being bullied or harassed by others.Jesse Logan was an 18-year-old who sent nude pictures of herself toher boyfriend. After they broke up, the ex-boyfriend sent thosenude pictures to other high school girls who started harassingJesse by calling her derogatory names. After being harassed for anumber of months, she committed suicide. A similar case is that of13-year-old Hope Witsell, who sent a topless photo of herself to aboy she liked. The boy then forwarded the photo to others, whobegan harassing Hope at school. Hope later committed suicide.

While these are extreme cases, there are many other students whohave been harassed and suffered from varying degrees of emotionaldistress because of bullying. This leads to questions aboutliability coverage from the homeowners' policy since othersinflicted distress onto the victim. 

Intentional Injury
The first exclusionthat comes to mind is that of intentional injury. “Bodily injury”or “property damage” is excluded if it is intended or expected bythe insured, even if the resulting injury or damage is of adifferent kind, quality or degree than what was initially intended.The result of bullying is often emotional distress; can emotionaldistress be considered to be “bodily injury”? The policy defines“bodily injury” as “…bodily harm, sickness or disease, includingrequired care, loss of services and death that results.” No mentionis made of emotional distress. However, mental stress can manifestitself in physical symptoms. Look at how common stomachaches arefor some students on test days. This is where emotional distresscan become bodily injury. Certainly the girls who committed suicidewere stressed to the point that bodily harm resulted from theharassment. Other people who are bullied may experience headaches,stomachaches, and other physical forms of stress. Therefore,emotional distress, at least when it manifests itself physically,can be seen as “bodily injury.”

An Occurrence
The question then becomeswhether the injury was intended or expected by the insured, whichgets to the motivation of bullying. Is being mean or excludinganother youth considered intentional bodily injury or emotionaldistress, even if the sole intention of the action was “beingmean”? What if the youth didn't really think about consequences?This could be quite common among teenagers. Is the resultantemotional distress then covered by the policy? It could be,particularly when you look at the definition of “occurrence.”

The policy defines occurrence as an accident, including repeatedor continuous exposure to the same general harmful conditions thatresult in injury or damage. Merriam Webster defines accident as “anunforeseen and unplanned event or occurrence.” Keep in mind,however, there are two other significant definitions: The first is“an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness orignorance” or “an unexpected happening causing loss or injury whichis not due to any fault or misconduct of the person injured but forwhich legal relief may be sought.” 

Is it reasonable to expect teens, especially the younger teens,to be able to foresee the ramifications of all their actions? It isnot unusual for teenagers to fail to think through their actionscompletely, especially if a group of teenagers is involved. A youthwho shares a compromising photo is certainly careless and obliviousas to the possible consequences, and another teen who passes on thephoto can be seen in the same light. Therefore, you could have anoccurrence, and if mental distress results in physical symptoms,the carrier could be liable for providing a defense of the teen'sactions. 

Mental Abuse
A related exclusion is thatof injury or damage from mental abuse. The term is not defined;Merriam Webster Online defines abuse as a corrupt practice orcustom, improper or excessive use or treatment; misuse (drug abuse)or language that condemns or vilifies usually unjustly,intemperately and angrily. Vilifying language may or may not fitthe actions involved in teasing, harassing, or humiliating someone.As mentioned earlier, however, in order for there to be liabilitycoverage, the action must cause “bodily injury” or “physicaldamage.” Again, because emotional distress is not“bodily injury,” there would not be coverage as long as there areno physical manifestations of the mental distress. 

Bullying is a complicated issue that in recent years hasreceived a lot of attention. Technology has made bullying morepervasive by broadening the scope of the bullying beyond anindividual's neighborhood or school; a much wider spectrum ofpeople can now be involved in bullying an individual. 

The homeowners' policy can come into play when the bullyingresults in “bodily injury,” and the act of bullying does not meetthe policy exclusions. These are difficult requirements to meet,and most instances will be excluded, but it is possible forcoverage to be found under certain circumstances. The situation andpolicy language must be reviewed carefully in order to make theproper determination of coverage.