Child Molester Wins Round in Attempt to Force Insurer to Pay

A child molester who settled a lawsuit with the family of one of his victims won a court round Monday in his attempt to force his homeowners insurance company to pay some of the settlement costs.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana questioned whether John Steen, now 62, has much hope of convincing a jury that damages the girl suffered at his Huntington Harbour home should be covered by his homeowners’ policy. But the court said Steen deserved a chance to have the issue decided at a trial.

Steen and his wife at the time, Christi Steen, pleaded no contest in 1982 to child molestation charges involving the 9-year-old in the civil suit and a 13-year-old girl. Both Steens, now divorced, spent more than three years at Patton State Hospital as mentally disordered sex offenders.

At the time of his arrest, Steen was a self-made millionaire who had retired after selling his mini-bike and go-cart parts business.

The Steens settled the civil suit with the father of the 9-year-old for $250,000. The Hartford Fire Insurance Co., which insured the Steens, agreed to pay $87,500 but reserved the right to recover the money from the Steens later in a separate lawsuit.

Two years ago, Superior Court Judge Tully H. Seymour agreed that the insurer should not be responsible for the settlement and issued a judgment in Hartford Fire’s favor. Christi Steen was dropped from the case, and John Steen appealed.

The appellate court said Seymour went too far and should have let the issue go to trial.

“The conduct involved in the charged crimes was deplorable, and we regret a prolongation of this matter, particularly because an outcome in John Steen’s favor appears remote at best,” stated Judge Harmon G. Scoville, who wrote the unanimous opinion.

Remote or not, Steen’s attorney, Joe A. Dickerson, was delighted with the appellate court ruling.

“It’s nice to win one,” Dickerson said. “John is damned going into this thing. He starts out in a jury’s eyes as a child molester. We know it won’t be easy.”

Hartford Fire attorneys could not be reached for comment about the appellate court ruling.

The appellate court omitted the name of the victim’s family to protect their privacy.

In addition to the $87,500 paid by Hartford Fire, the girl’s family collected $100,000 from Steen personally, $50,000 from the girl’s family’s own insurance company, and $12,500 from Christi Steen’s relatives contributing on her behalf.

Steen claimed Hartford Fire should accept the loss because his policy is supposed to cover “damages because of bodily injury . . . caused by an occurrence.” The issue at a trial would be whether that included molestation. Steen contends that it was his ex-wife who had sex with the girl, not him, even though allegations against him included two sex acts with the victim.