'No contest' plea & criminal acts insurance exclusions

The insurance company argued that “the general rule against using pleas of nolo contendere can be adequately safeguarded by simply enforcing that rule in [the victim's] civil action before the Superior Court,” and “excluding proof of Tenn’s (an insured person in the case) ‘nolo contendere’ plea will allow him to benefit from his own illegal conduct.” (Credit: GoodStudio)

The Connecticut Supreme Court concluded that a “no contest plea” in a criminal case cannot be used by an insurance company to deny coverage under a policy’s criminal acts exclusion.

The case was filed by Allstate Insurance Co., which sought a determination on whether it was obligated to defend and indemnify Donte Tenn, who was charged with criminal assault. The victim filed a separate civil case against Tenn and his mother’s insurance company for damages for personal injuries, according to the Connecticut Supreme Court’s opinion filed Feb. 23.

Tenn’s mother was the policyholder of homeowner’s insurance through Allstate and the insurance company conceded that Tenn qualified as an “insured person,” according to the court’s opinion. Allstate further conceded that the terms of that policy “generally obligated it to pay because of bodily injury or property damage arising from an occurrence,” the opinion said.