City of Burlington v. National Union Fire Ins. Co

In City of Burlington v. National Union Fire Ins. Co., 163 Vt. 124, 126, 655 A.2d 719, 720 (1994), the Court affirmed the superior court's judgment that the Moffatt allegations, sounding in breach of contract and related torts, were not covered by NUFI's liability policy, which provided coverage for an "occurrence" - defined as "an accident" resulting "in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended from the standpoint of the insured." 163 Vt. at 126-27, 655 A.2d at 720. In so ruling, the Court noted that an "accident" is an unexpected happening, and that the City had acted intentionally in refusing the wood chip deliveries. See id. at 128, 655 A.2d at 721. Further, the Court distinguished cases cited by the City in which the unintended harm constituted the "occurrence," noting that the City "intended or expected economic injury to the wood chip suppliers when it reduced its purchases from them." Id. at 128-29, 655 A.2d at 721-22. The Court stated that basing coverage on the City's lack of "precise knowledge of the amount or nature of the damage it might inflict on others as a consequence of its business actions" would take us "far afield from any common-sense definition of accident." Id. at 129, 655 A.2d at 722. The Court was concerned with whether the City's breach of contract was an "accident," which we had defined in previous case law as an unexpected happening occurring without intention or design. See 163 Vt. at 128, 655 A.2d at 721. The Court stated that without question the City acted intentionally in refusing the wood chip deliveries. See id. We also stated, in response to the cases cited by the City holding that an intentional act may be an "occurrence" if the resulting harm was unintended, that the City intended or expected the Moffatts to incur economic injury from its decision to limit deliveries, even if it was not aware of the precise nature or amount of the damages. Id. at 128-29, 655 A.2d at 721-22.