A New Jersey Superior Court judge has ruled that Farmers Mutual Insurance Co. does not have to provide one of its homeowner’s policyholders with defense in a wrongful death lawsuit.

Judge David Rand ruled that language in the policy held by Flora Mari, of Garfield, N.J., precludes her from being indemnified against the lawsuit, according to the Daily Record (Parsippany, N.J.).

Mari and her ex-husband, John Zarate, were sued in 2007 by the parents of a 16-year-old girl who was beaten and stabbed to death by brothers James and Jonathan Zarate in the basement of their father’s home in Randolph. Jonathan Zarate lived with his father at the time of the girl’s death, but Mari sought to be defended against the suit as James Zarate lived with her and was only visiting when the crime occurred, according to the report.

The judge cited specific language in the $300,000 homeowner’s policy, noting that a Supreme Court ruling from last year compelled his ruling that Farmers Mutual had no obligation to defend Mari. The policy stated it did not cover bodily injury, whether or not expected or intended by any insured “that is a consequence of an insured’s willfully harmful act or knowing endangerment,” the Record reported.

Therefore, whether or not Mari expected an act harming another in her home did not matter because the policy would not cover her or son James.

Both Jonathan and James Zarate have been sentenced to life imprisonment.