Insurance coverage for injuries sustained when using the vehicle as a vehicle in Virginia
0July 13, 2023 by Tom Roberts, Esq.
In Virginia, there is coverage under the automobile insurance when injuries occur from the use of a vehicle even if that use is not related to the transportation function. The vehicle use need not be the direct, proximate cause of the injury as long as there is a a causal connection between the accident or injury and the use of the vehicle as a vehicle. For example coverage exists where
- a nonowner was injured replacing a tire
- a person was injured loading the vehicle – it was a car-loading accident that occurred in a car-loading area and involved car-loading equipment. USAA V ESTEP -CT. APP. 2023
Examples where there was no coverage –
- assault on a bus – the court finding that the bus was merely the situs of the attack – Corriveau ex rel. Ballagh v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 298 Va. 273, 278 (2019)
- injuries suffered by the victim of an abduction and sexual assault within a stolen vehicle did not arise from the use of that vehicle as a means of transportation – Doe v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Co., 878 F. Supp. 862, 865-67 (E.D. Va. 1995)
Claimed insurance losses “are not vehicle-caused when the proximate cause is merely incidental or tangential to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the vehicle.
Category Contract Law, General, Litigation, Personal Injury Law | Tags: auto insurance law, automobile insurance law, insurance coverage, insurance coverage questions in virginia, insurance litigation, virginia auto insurance law, virginia insurance coverage, virginia insurance law
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