One of the basic tenets of insurance is that it will not cover illegal, intentional acts, or otherwise act contrary to public policy.
That’s an area of the law that often is murky, for there exist numerous exceptions, but the fact remains that it is illegal for insurers to protect against deliberate illegal activity. With that in mind, I today began formal proceedings against the Church Pension Group (CPG) the parent entity behind Grace Episcopal’s insurance policy.
To be clear, exceptions are myriad. For example, your automobile insurance coverage does not cover illegal acts, but if you injure or kill someone while DUI, it will pay. Why? Because while DUI is illegal, you didn’t intend to kill anyone. (That said, you will either be dropped at renewal, or your rates will go through the roof.)
Similarly, if you get in a fistfight and cause property damage, your insurance is likely to pay for the damage, because you didn’t intend the property damage, and because it would be manifestly unjust to the victim to deny coverage.
Yet the fact remains: Insurance does not cover deliberate acts, like vandalism. Nor does it cover punitive damages, since those are the result of conduct that a court found to be outrageous.
In the instant case, Bob Malm committed perjury, and did so multiple times. Among his fabrications, made under oath, was that Mom or someone claiming to be her contacted him repeatedly to set up appointments, only to no-show. He also claimed that only his wife had blogged about our conflict, despite knowing that his daughter Lindsey had done so. He falsely claimed under oath that all of his statements were true. And he engaged in defamation per se, claiming that I had embezzled money from a previous employer, while lying to the bishop regarding the timeline of my departure from the organization.
Of particular concern is Bob’s perjury, which by definition is deliberate. Yet CPG continues to provide insurance coverage and litigation support on these claims, in what I submit is a violation of state law and public policy.
I have therefore filed a formal action against CPG with the commonwealth, and have notified CPG’s CEO, Mary Kate Wold; its Chief Legal Officer, Nancy Sanborn; and the examiner handling Grace’s claims, Heather Crockett; that I intend to pursue the matter.
Simply put, CPG cannot turn a blind eye to perjuring priest Bob Malm’s illegal behavior, when it can readily verify that Bob lied under oath. Indeed, all it has to do is ask for evidence to support perjuring priest Bob Malm’s claim that Mom or someone purporting to be her contacted him repeatedly to set up appointments. That simply didn’t happen. It is a lie, pure and simple.
Here is the email I sent.