2009AP2266, et al. Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee

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Insurance
CGL policies; negligent misrepresentation

A CGL policy does not provide coverage for volitional acts of negligent misrepresentation.
“[T]he Archdiocese’s misrepresentations were clearly volitional. Despite the plaintiffs’ assertion that the Archdiocese was not aware that the plaintiffs would incur injuries as a result of its misrepresentations, we have already established that the proper inquiry is not as to the injury itself, but rather to the underlying cause of the injury. The court in Everson found that while the defendant made a mistake in judgment, he later acted in volition in that he intended to give the plaintiff information as to whether the property was on a flood plain. Everson, 280 Wis. 2d 1, ¶22. Similarly, while the Archdiocese may not have intended to harm the plaintiffs, it certainly intended to keep its knowledge of the priests at issue to itself, ultimately leading to the plaintiffs’ injuries. The degree of volition involved in this instance goes beyond that of a typographical error, as was the case in Everson. The underlying cause of the plaintiffs’ injuries, the Archdiocese’s misrepresentations, constitutes an act of volition.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2009AP2266, et al. Doe v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee

Dist. I, Milwaukee County, DiMotto, White, Witkowiak, Cooper, Sosnay, Flanagan, Kahn, Brash, JJ., Kessler, J.
Attorneys: For Appellant: Rothstein, John A., Milwaukee; Davis, Jeffrey Oxford, Milwaukee; Muth, David P., Milwaukee; Maciolek, Natalie G., Milwaukee; For Respondent: Nelson, Mark S., Waukesha

http://www.wicourts.gov/ca/opinion/DisplayDocument.html?content=html&seqNo=56872