Narvaez v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.

1999 OK CIV APP 92, 989 P.2d 1051, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 106, 1999 WL 1013549
CourtCourt of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedJune 22, 1999
Docket92,688
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1999 OK CIV APP 92 (Narvaez v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Narvaez v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 1999 OK CIV APP 92, 989 P.2d 1051, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 106, 1999 WL 1013549 (Okla. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

GOODMAN, P.J.

¶ 1 This appeal was assigned to the accelerated docket pursuant to Oklahoma Supreme Court Rule 1.36(a)(1), 12 O.S. Supp. 1998, ch. 15, app. 1, after the trial court’s January 27, 1999, order granted judgment to appellee State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm) on appellant Eugene Narvaez’s (Narvaez) claim for uninsured motorist benefits under a policy issued to. Narvaez by State Farm. Upon review of the facts and applicable law, we affirm.

Standard of Review

¶ 2 Summary judgment is appropriate only when there is no substantial controversy as to any material fact, and one of the parties *1052 is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The court must also find that reasonable people could not reach different conclusions on the undisputed facts. All inferences to be drawn from the undisputed facts must be viewed in the light most favorable to the party opposing the motion. Hutchins v. Silicone Specialties, Inc., 1993 OK 70, 881 P.2d 64, 66-67; Erwin v. Frazier, 1989 OK 95, 786 P.2d 61. Even though there may be multiple issues of disputed fact which would normally preclude summary judgment and would otherwise warrant submission of this matter to a jury, a movant must nevertheless show that, as a matter of law, he may recover. Mooney v. YMCA of Greater Tulsa, 1993 OK 33, 849 P.2d 414.

Facts

¶ 3 Narvaez was a guest at a La Quinta Inn located in Oklahoma City when he was assaulted on July 2, 1996, in the parking lot. The unknown assailant beat Narvaez, injuring him, and then stole Narvaez’s minivan. The minivan was covered by insurance issued by State Farm, and contained uninsured/un-derinsured motorist coverage. Narvaez made a claim for that coverage, but State Farm denied the claim on the basis the injuries were not caused by an uninsured motorist. Narvaez has no memory of the assault. His last clear memory is using a pay phone at the hotel and being asked by an unknown person to move his minivan from a no-parking zone. His next memory is waking up at Mercy Hospital. There are no evidentiary materials before us suggesting Narvaez was struck by his own vehicle or any part thereof.

¶ 4 State Farm filed a declaratory judgment action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on October 29, 1996. On July 1, 1997, the federal district court granted State Farm judgment on the issue of whether or not State Farm was required to pay Narvaez the UM benefits, concluding it was not so required. That decision was reversed on appeal by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals after that court concluded the amount in controversy was insufficient to trigger federal jurisdiction.

¶ 5 Narvaez then filed suit in Oklahoma County District Court on August 12, 1998. State Farm again denied it owed the UM benefits, and sought summary judgment in its favor on all issues. The Oklahoma County District Court granted said motion in an order filed January 27, 1999. Narvaez appeals.

¶ 6 The sole issue before us is whether or not Narvaez is entitled to recover UM benefits from his policy when Narvaez was injured during an assault, at the conclusion of which his car was stolen by the assailant. Based on the evidentiary material before us, we can find no evidence to establish that the assailant operated the vehicle at the time of Narvaez’s injury. We specifically do not address the remainder of -State Farm’s defenses.

¶ 7 In Mayer v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 1997 OK 67, ¶ 7, 944 P.2d 288, 290, the Oklahoma Supreme Court enunciated a test to determine whether UM benefits are to be paid for a particular injury.

An insured’s injuries, to be redressible under UM coverage, must have (1) been caused by an accident and (2) arisen out of the use of an automobile. [Willard v. Kelley, 1990 OK 127, 803 P.2d 1124, 1127.] In first-party uninsured motorist coverage contests between the insured and the insurer, the term ‘accident’ is viewed from the standpoint of the insured. [Willard v. Kelley, supra, note 3 at 1128, Uptegraft v. Home Insurance Co., 1983 OK 41, 662 P.2d 681, 684.] It can include criminal acts arising from the uninsured vehicle’s use. [Safeco Insurance Company of America v. Sanders, 1990 OK 129, 803 P.2d 688, 694; Willard v. Kelley, supra, note 3 at 1128, n. 6.].... Subsection B of § 3636 has been understood to give indication of an intent that there be a causal connection between the vehicle’s inherent junction as a means of transportation and the accidental injuries which are the subject of suit.

¶8 Additionally, there is a requirement that the uninsured vehicle be in use as a motor vehicle at the time of injuiy. We find this point dispositive of the issue in this case. In Mayer, the insured was injured after a truck containing explosives was driven, *1053 parked, and abandoned outside a federal building in Oklahoma City. The court found the insured’s injuries from the subsequent explosion occurred after the vehicle’s use as a method of transportation had ceased and its role as a “catapult for a bomb” began. Thus the causal link between the criminal actor’s operation of the truck and the insured’s injuries was severed.

¶ 9 We find the same analysis applies to the facts presented today. Narvaez was assaulted, injured, and robbed of his car keys before his unknown assailant began to operate Narvaez’s minivan. There is no eviden-tiary material before us which suggests Nar-vaez was injured by the use or operation of his van while it was in the control of the assailant. Rather, Narvaez’s injuries occurred prior to the assailant gaining control of the van. Thus, in Mayer, the transportation use of the truck ended before the injury-producing event, whereas here the transportation use of the van occurred after the injury-producing event. We conclude, as a matter of law, Narvaez could not recover under this set of facts, and summary judgment was appropriately granted to State Farm.

¶ 10 Narvaez argues that the court should look at the intent of the assailant to steal — and thus operate — the minivan, and therefore conclude the injuries suffered by Narvaez were encompassed within and incidental to the intent to gain control of the minivan, citing Sanders and Heritage Insurance Company of America v. Phelan, 59 Ill.2d 389, 321 N.E.2d 257 (1974), cited with approval in Sanders. Narvaez claims the assailant effectively became the operator of the vehicle when the assailant engaged in activity intended to facilitate his illicit operation of the minivan, i.e., by assaulting Nar-vaez to obtain his car keys.

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1999 OK CIV APP 92, 989 P.2d 1051, 1999 Okla. Civ. App. LEXIS 106, 1999 WL 1013549, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/narvaez-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-co-oklacivapp-1999.