In May of 1996, three friends were playing basketball in their high school gym. Matthew Jewison and a couple of friends were asked by their choir director to move some chairs when they took time away from their task for some horseplay on the basketball court. At one point, Matthew, as he had done numerous times before, jumped up, grabbed a basketball rim and hung on. The next part of the story was slightly disputed, but in essence Matt’s friends grabbed his ankles to pull him down. His friends let go when Matthew lost his grip and fell. Matt put out his hands to protect himself and he seriously injured a middle finger when he landed. All parties agreed that the incident was unintended since they were just "goofing around."

Matthew’s family incurred nearly $9,000 in expenses for medical treatment and therapy, so his family sued the families of the other boys to recover the costs. One of the friend’s parents was covered by an American Family homeowners policy and they filed a claim. American Family filed for a declaratory action. The company’s position was that, since the injury arose from an intentional act (pulling on Matthew to get him down from the rim), they had no obligation to defend or pay for the loss. The trial court, after reviewing the childrens’ depositions and another case ruled against American Family, finding that the loss was an eligible occurrence. The insurer appealed and the higher court reversed, agreeing with American that the loss was excluded. Matthew’s family then appealed.

The supreme court reviewed a number of cases for precedent and focus its examination on the intent of the youths. The high court reasoned that it was appropriate to analyze the policy’s coverage intent concerning eligible occurrences and the state of mind of the children who caused the injury. In the court’s opinion, while the actions leading up to the loss was deliberate, none of the parties expected or intended to hurt their playmate. Since, in its opinion, the resulting injury was accidental, it qualified as covered event. The appellate court decision was reversed, affirming the decision of the trial court.

American Family Insurance Company, Petitioner-Respondent v. Andy Walser, Defendant-Respondent. MinnSCt. No. C1-00-349. Filed July 5, 2001. Reversed and Remanded CCH Fire and Casualty Cases Paragraph 6794