Tezozomoc "Ted" Alcantar, et al. v. Haulers Insurance Company

This is an action against an insurance company that is alleged to have breached its duties to an insured by failing to provide a defense in a prior personal injury action, wherein a substantial default judgment was entered against the insured. The former plaintiffs, now judgment creditors, and the purported insured, now judgment debtor, have joined forces as plaintiffs in this action to recover damages, including the amount of the default judgment, the purported insured suffered due to the insurer's refusal to provide a defense. The trial court dismissed the action on a Tenn. R. Civ. P. 12 motion for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted. We affirm. The judgment on which this action is based is void, because the relief granted therein by default judgment exceeded the relief sought. In the alternative, if the previous judgment on which this action is based is valid, the purported insured is not afforded coverage; the policy excluded injury or damage expected or intended from the standpoint of the insured and it was held in the previous judgment that the purported insured intended the collision and the Alcantars' injuries.