This case got set off when a university student set fire to the Astroturf on the school’s football field.  He said he didn’t mean to set the whole field on fire.  He was just trying to scorch a few letters into the turf.  Unfortunately, the small fire got quickly out of control, reminding us that fire doubles every 30 seconds and the result was complete devastation of the field.  As you can imagine, university officials were not amused.  It seems Astroturf is astronomically expensive and the question became who’s going to foot the bill for the football field.  The university sued the student, whose family notified their insurance company since their homeowner’s policy pretty much covers the field, they thought it would cover this field.  But the company did an end run claiming the policy excludes property damage expected or intended by the insured.  The student said he only intended to scorch a few letters, but the Court said the underlying intent to set fire to any part of the field voids the policy.  So the insurance company scored and, even though a full field fire was not his goal, he has met his match and is in the end zone all alone.

THIS IS NEIL CHAYET LOOKING AT THE LAW™

Nationwide Insurance v. Zavalis, Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 4/1/95, 63 Law Week 2468

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