Allstate Insurance Company

The plaintiff insurance company brought the present declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, seeking a determination that it was not obligated to defend and indemnify the defendant T in connection with a civil action brought against T by the defendant M. M's civil action stemmed from an incident in which he sustained injuries after T assaulted him. After the incident, T entered a plea of nolo contendere in a separate criminal prosecution to the charge of first degree assault. The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment in the present action, claiming that T's plea of nolo contendere relieved it of its duty to defend and indemnify T in M's civil action under a homeowners insurance policy issued by the plaintiff to T's mother in light of a criminal acts exclusion in that policy. Thereafter, the District Court, pursuant to statute (§ 51-199b (d)) and the rules of practice (§ 82-1), certified to this court the question of whether a plea of nolo contendere could be used by an insurance company in a declaratory judgment action to trigger a criminal acts exclusion to coverage. Held that T's plea of nolo contendere was inadmissible in the plaintiff's declar- atory judgment action to prove the occurrence of a criminal act and, therefore, could not be used to trigger the criminal acts exclusion of the homeowners insurance policy: under this state's common law, as codified in the Connecticut Code of Evidence (§ 4-8A (a) (2)), a plea of nolo contendere generally cannot be admitted in a subsequent proceed- ing to prove the occurrence of criminal act, and the court's holding in this case was harmonious with case law from numerous jurisdictions; moreover, the purpose of the plea of nolo contendere is to facilitate the efficient disposition of criminal cases by encouraging plea bar- gaining, such a plea potentially allows the criminal defendant to avoid the cost of litigating both criminal and civil cases and to consolid

summary judgment – R.C. 4112.02(I) – retaliation – but-for cause – ineffective assistance of counsel in civil case

Insurance—Motor vehicles—Court of appeals' judgment reversed and cause remanded for determination consistent with, if applicable, Ohayon v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Illinois, Wolfe v. Wolfe, and Csulik v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co.