Insurer Liable under Homeowners’ Policy for Damage Caused by Escaped Bull.

The defendants owned a bull that escaped and wandered onto the highway, causing a three-vehicle accident. The defendants’ homeowners’ insurer filed an action seeking a declaration that it was not liable for damages flowing from the accident because (1) the damage caused by the bull was excluded from coverage by the policy’s business pursuits exclusion and (2) that the property from which the bull escaped was not owned by the defendants and was thus not insured property. The court rejected the insurer’s claim, finding that the business pursuits exclusion did not apply to the defendants’ raising of 11 cattle because they were not raising the cattle (which they had been given) as a business, but rather as a hobby. The court also found that although the bull had been housed on another owner’s property across the road from the defendants’ property, the property was used “in connection with” the defendants’ property and was thus insured. State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Nivens, No. 0:12-00151-MBS, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134976 (D. S.C. Sept. 24, 2014)