The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last week reversed a lower court’s judgment in favor of an insurance company, finding a single push in an unprovoked attack by the insured did not preclude coverage relating to the term “physical abuse” in the context of the abuse and molestation exclusion.
In a March 16 opinion, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court unanimously reversed a judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Dorchester Mutual Insurance Co., after the insured, 30-year-old William Brengle, initiated an unprovoked attack on Leonard Miville, 61, by punching him in the head and repeatedly kicking him, causing serious injuries.
