Self Defense Insurance Programs

[Van Canna]

A criminal defense attorney who wants to avoid entering a plea in a criminal case that will automatically trigger an exclusion in a client's insurance policy should first examine the policy language.

If a particular client's policy includes an intentional acts exclusion or an intentional criminal acts exclusion, a guilty plea to an intent-based crime will likely establish the application of those exclusions.

Conversely, a guilty plea to a crime for which intent is not an element will still preserve the client's right to argue that his or her actions were not intentional and thus that those exclusions do not apply.

But, if the policy includes a broad criminal acts exclusion, Daniel and Aldrich indicate that any guilty plea conclusively establishes the application of the exclusion and cuts off any right for the insured to argue that he or she is entitled to coverage.

[Van Canna]

THE CRIMINAL ACTS EXCLUSION

Like most clauses in insurance policies, criminal acts exclusions come in different forms. Some policies contain criminal acts exclusions that are very broad and simply exclude coverage for any suit arising out of a criminal act or omission.

Other policies use criminal acts exclusions that bar coverage only when the criminal act was committed with intent to cause harm. The policy language is the key to determining whether a guilty plea to a particular crime will bar insurance coverage in a subsequent civil action.

[Van Canna]

The Devil's bargain=plea agreements.


https://www.cato.org/publications/comme ... ne-justice

From a defendant’s perspective, plea bargaining extorts guilty pleas. People who have never been prosecuted may think there is no way they would plead guilty to a crime they did not commit.

But when the government has a “witness” who is willing to lie, and your own attorney urges you to accept one year in prison rather than risk a ten-year sentence, the decision becomes harder.

As William Young, then chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, observed in an unusually blunt 2004 opinion, “The focus of our entire criminal justice system has shifted away from trials and juries and adjudication to a massive system of sentence bargaining that is heavily rigged against the accused.”

Talk about ending up fuked in any self defense situation you might be in....

[Van Canna]

“Criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. “[T]he negotiation of a plea bargain, rather than the unfolding of a trial, is almost always the critical point for a defendant.”

One of the most critical being the destruction of defense and indemnity coverage under your liability policies...that will leave you open to financial collapse in a law suit against you by the person you hit or shot in self defense.

[Van Canna]

According to the Court of Appeals, the guilty pleas in these criminal cases were the conclusive facts triggering the mandatory application of this version of the criminal acts exclusion. In these cases, the insureds had no opportunity to introduce facts to argue that the exclusions did not apply (for example, that they did not actually commit crimes, even though they pleaded guilty). Any hope for coverage was lost the moment the courts accepted their guilty pleas.

[Van Canna]

CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY

A criminal defense attorney who wants to avoid entering a plea in a criminal case that will automatically trigger an exclusion in a client's insurance policy should first examine the policy language.

If a particular client's policy includes an intentional acts exclusion or an intentional criminal acts exclusion, a guilty plea to an intent-based crime will likely establish the application of those exclusions.

Conversely, a guilty plea to a crime for which intent is not an element will still preserve the client's right to argue that his or her actions were not intentional and thus that those exclusions do not apply.

But, if the policy includes a broad criminal acts exclusion, Daniel and Aldrich indicate that any guilty plea conclusively establishes the application of the exclusion and cuts off any right for the insured to argue that he or she is entitled to coverage.

[Van Canna]

Eric Stanton Anaya

Criminal Defense Attorney |

Any plea is considered a guilty plea and can be used against you in a civil case.
If you take a reduction in the charge it could mean that the case was not strong enough to proceed and a civil attorney could use that to your advantage.
If you are satisfied with the current plea offer consult with your insurance company and a civil attorney before you take a the plea agreement.

This is excellent advise.

If you are involved in any 'defensive situation' where you had to use some weapon or just your empty hands for self protection...

in addition to criminal charges possibilities, you will also have the certainty of a civil suit filed against you.

If it happens, you immediately need the 'life line' of a criminal defense attorney's involvement to guide you through the chaos and before you make statements or take actions that will be used against you both criminally an civilly...and, used against you, by a liability insurance company [Homeowner's/umbrella...to dispute your civil defense and indemnity coverage.

As a claims examiner, I would recommend first and foremost to have a criminal attorney versed in self defense on a standby so you can make just one phone call and be sure a criminal attorney will respond immediately.

With your criminal defense attorney, then talk about the potential of a law suit, and discuss the best way to put your liability insurance co. on notice and address the effect of any plea bargain might have on your coverage contract.

No question that your insurance company should be placed on notice in anticipation of litigation.

In my office when we would get such an assignment, we would immediately launch an investigation [most likely under reservation of rights letter to the insured]...

We would find that the police report might not be quickly available, pending the resolution of criminal charges which would limit our investigation.

We then would contact the insured's criminal lawyer asking for a sit down interview of the insured.

The criminal lawyer would, correctly, initially refuse to allow the interview as well as allow other evidence in his criminal file to 'leak' into the civil file of the Insurance company...because the prosecutor could subpoena the civil file as well as the case assigned investigator to appear in court on the criminal trial...something that has happened to me countless times.

It is a can of worms, and you in such a situation, will be totally disoriented in the mental chaos and prone to many costly mistakes.

You need the immediacy of a criminal defense lawyer who can also address the best way to place your insurance company on notice and work with them in anticipation of civil action and the safeguard of your defense and indemnity coverage under your policy.

You fail here in this process...and you will fry in financial hell, maybe from behind bars.

Any plea is considered a guilty plea and can be used against you in a civil case. If you take a reduction in the charge it could mean that the case was not strong enough to proceed and a civil attorney could use that to your advantage. If you are satisfied with the current plea offer consult with your insurance company and a civil attorney before you take a the plea agreement.

Also you may want to remember that the very fact you might carry a weapon or that you study martial arts...will be used by the prosecution against you.

Be very careful about what you post about yourself on the web, and extreme careful in posting videos of yourself looking/talking like a 'tough guy'...telling stories of how great of a fighter you were/are etc., because all of that will be a bonus falling into the lap of a prosecutor.

[Van Canna]

In addition to astronomical legal defense costs...you also need to understand that the court may order that you make restitution for damages you caused to someone while 'defending yourself' if you are found guilty or accept a plea bargain.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/victi ... estitution

[Van Canna]

Any amount ordered paid as restitution shall be reduced by any amount later recovered as compensatory damages for the same loss in any related civil proceeding.

[Van Canna]

The CCW-Safe plan is good for it is a legal service with no limits for defense costs criminal ad civil...

But it is not an insurance policy that would pay out damages to a successful plaintiff. For that you need your own insurance policies both homeowners and personal umbrella that will cover damages for intentional acts in defense of persons and property...reasonable force requirement...same as CCW-Safe.