The Exclusion For Intentional Or Criminal Acts

Introduction

As third party liability insurance is not intended to cover an insured for intentionally caused harm, liability policies, particularly homeowner's and commercial general liability policies, invariably have some form of an exclusion for intentional or criminal acts.

This is the case notwithstanding that some liability policies, particularly older CGL policies, also addressed the issue with a limitation in the insuring agreement that the property damage must be caused by an accident. With such policies then providing a definition of "accident" which precluded intentionally caused loss or damage. Similarly, early case law including Fenton v. J. Thorley & Co.,¹ provided an interpretation of the word "accident" that was consistent with an intention to exclude intentionally caused harm: