What does an West Palm Beach accident “arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use” of an uninsured motor vehicle, or similar language mean?

What does an accident "arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use" of an uninsured motor vehicle, or similar language mean?

Surprisingly, this language is not as simple as you may think it sounds. Typically, to establish the insurer's liability under the "ownership, maintenance or use" provision interpreted by the case Race v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., three rules apply:

1) The accident must have arisen out of the inherent nature of the automobile;
2) The accident must have arisen within the natural territorial limits of an automobile, and the actual use, loading, or unloading must not have terminated; and
3) The automobile must not merely contribute to cause the condition which produces the injury, but must, itself, produce the injury.
New Hampshire Insurance Co. v. Oliver, 730 So.2d 700, 702 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999).

These are a few examples of cases that allowed recovery:

Uninsured motorist intentionally drove his truck into the insured. Leatherby Insurance Co. v. Willoughby, 315 So.2d 553 (Fla. 2d DCA 1975), 72 A.L.R.3d 1156

Insured injured while escaping from two bulls that had crashed through the insured's fence after they spilled from an overturned, uninsured motor vehicle. Carpenter v. Sapp, 569 So.2d 1291 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990).

Passenger riding in an insured vehicle injured when a tree limb struck her windshield after a lawn worker attempted to throw the cut tree limb into an uninsured truck. Pomerantz v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 575 So.2d 1311 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991).

However, in these cases recovery was not allowed:

Persons injured during altercations and attacks. Race v. National Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 542 So.2d 347, 348 (Fla. 1989); Progressive Express Insurance Co. v. Russell, 763 So.2d 557 (Fla.4th DCA 2000); Balboa Insurance Co. v. Perez, 559 So.2d 1300 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990); Northern Insurance Co. of New York v. Hampton, 510 So.2d 649 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987); Fleming v. Hill, 501 So.2d 715 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987).

Sheriff's department DUI specialist attacked in a police vehicle by an intoxicated uninsured motorist who had been arrested following an accident. Webster v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., 506 So.2d 63 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987).

Insured injured when a bomb placed under his car exploded; the vehicle used to transport the bomb to the insured's residence was uninsured. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co. v. Goldman, 374 So.2d 539 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979).

Insured passenger injured when an unidentified person threw a rock through the windshield; the insured claimed that the host driver was negligent in driving through a high crime area at night. Denbaum v. Allstate Insurance Co., 374 So.2d 44 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979).

Insured's son injured by a loaded pistol that discharged while the son was cleaning out the insured's car after it had been damaged in an accident. Watson v. Watson, 326 So.2d 48 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976).

Insureds injured by projectiles fired from or into an uninsured vehicle (no coverage unless movement of uninsured motor vehicle causes projectile to go amiss). Trott v. Finlayson, 690 So.2d 718 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).

These are not bright line distinctions as you can see. An experienced West Palm Beach accident attorney can navigate you through this maze of covered injuries so you get maximum recovery from your accident.