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VIRGINIA SUPREME COURT HOLDS THAT CAR-BORNE PURSE SNATCHING THAT INJURED PEDESTRIAN VICTIM WAS COVERED BY UNINSURED MOTORIST PROVISIONS OF VICTIM’S AUTO POLICY
The Virginia Supreme Court has held that a pedestrian, who was injured when her purse was snatched by an unidentified passenger in a moving vehicle, sustained injuries arising out of the use of an uninsured motor vehicle under her husband’s automobile liability policy issued by Nationwide. The victim, age 74, had just stepped from her daughter’s car in an outlet mall and had turned toward the mall, when an unidentified car towards her. An unknown man reached from the passenger-side window of the approaching car, and grabbed the strap of her purse. She was dragged about 10 feet, and sustained a broken shoulder. She made a claim under her husband’s auto policy. Because the driver of the car was unknown, she sought recovery under the uninsured and underinsured motorist provisions. The coverage related to damages from “the ownership, maintenance or use” of the uninsured motor vehicle. She filed a motion for judgment in the Circuit Court for the City of Virginia Beach against the unknown motorist. Nationwide then filed a declaratory judgment action in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Nationwide prevailed on a summary judgment motion in the federal court, on the grounds that the circumstances leading to the injuries did not constitute “use” of an uninsured motor vehicle under the policy. An appeal was taken to the 4th Circuit, which certified the question to the Virginia Supreme Court. The Virginia Supreme Court found that the UM/UIM coverage was triggered, because the case involved the ordinary movement of a vehicle that was the direct cause, rather than a mere incidental aspect, of the injuries sustained. The vehicle’s movement and its resulting force were used to help wrest the handbag from the victim. Thus the injuries were causally related to the employment of the uninsured vehicle as a vehicle because the force from the vehicle’s movement directly contributed to her injuries. |
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