State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Langan

55 A.D.3d 281, 865 N.Y.S.2d 102
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedSeptember 16, 2008
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 55 A.D.3d 281 (State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Langan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance v. Langan, 55 A.D.3d 281, 865 N.Y.S.2d 102 (N.Y. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Fisher, J.

On February 12, 2002, Neil Conrad Spicehandler was struck and fatally injured by a motor vehicle driven by Ronald Popadich, who was later arrested, inter alia, in connection with Spicehandler’s death. John Robert Langan, as administrator of Spicehandler’s estate, sought to recover uninsured motorist benefits and death benefits pursuant to an automobile liability policy issued to Langan by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (hereinafter State Farm). Langan claimed that the policy covered Spicehandler as an insured. After an investigation, State Farm disclaimed coverage on a number of grounds. Insofar as relevant to this appeal, State Farm asserted that it was not obligated to afford coverage because Spicehandler’s injuries were caused by Popadich’s intentional criminal [283]*283conduct and thus were not the result of an “accident” as required by the State Farm policy.

State Farm then commenced this action, inter alia, for a judgment declaring that it was not obligated to provide coverage, and it moved, among other things, for summary judgment on the ground that Spicehandler was injured as a result of Popadich’s intentional conduct, and not as a result of a covered “accident.” By order dated January 26, 2004, the Supreme Court, inter alia, denied State Farm’s motion, without prejudice to renew following the resolution of the criminal charges pending against Popadich as a result of the incident (2004 NY Slip Op 30243[U]). On appeal, this Court, inter alia, affirmed that portion of the Supreme Court’s order (see State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v Langan, 18 AD3d 860, 862 [2005]).

On September 28, 2005, Popadich pleaded guilty to the charge of murder in the second degree, admitting that, on February 12, 2002, he intentionally caused Spicehandler’s death by striking him with an automobile. Thereafter, State Farm moved for leave to renew its prior motion, inter alia, for summary judgment, tendering, among other things, the transcript of Popadich’s plea proceedings. Langan cross-moved, inter alia, for summary judgment. Supreme Court granted State Farm’s motion for leave to renew, and upon renewal, granted that branch of State Farm’s motion which was for summary judgment and denied that branch of Langan’s cross motion which was for summary judgment (2006 NY Slip Op 30400[U]). We modify.

Supreme Court correctly determined that State Farm was not obligated to provide coverage under the policy’s uninsured motorist endorsement. The purpose of an uninsured motorist endorsement is to help effectuate New York’s compulsory automobile liability insurance scheme “by providing coverage to insured persons who suffer automobile accident injuries at the hands of financially irresponsible motorists” (Matter of CountryWide Ins. Co. v Wagoner, 45 NY2d 581, 586 [1978]). To that end, the endorsement is designed to afford an injured person “the same protection as he [or she] would have had if he [or she] had been injured in an accident caused by an identifiable automobile covered by a standard automobile liability insurance policy in effect at the time of, and applicable to, the accident” (McCarthy v Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp., 16 AD2d 35, 38 [1962], affd 12 NY2d 922 [1963]; see Matter of Nagle [Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp.], 22 NY2d 165, 170 [1968] [noting that “it has been recognized that the purpose of this statute was to [284]*284provide compensation through the (MVAIC) to the extent that claims would be recognized and claimants compensated as if the owner or driver of the vehicle causing the injury were insured”]; accord Matter of Knickerbocker Ins. Co. [Faison], 22 NY2d 554, 558 [1968], cert denied 393 US 1055 [1969]). Thus, in New York, the mandatory coverage afforded under an uninsured motorist endorsement is meant to be coextensive with, and therefore no greater than, the standard coverage that would ordinarily be available to the uninsured motorist had he or she been insured (cf McCarthy v Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp., 16 AD2d at 42). Plainly, no standard automobile liability policy would have provided coverage to Popadich for the injuries he intentionally inflicted on Spicehandler (see Westchester Med. Ctr. v Travelers Prop. Cas. Ins. Co., 309 AD2d 927, 928 [2003]; Allstate Ins. Co. v Bostic, 228 AD2d 628, 628-629 [1996]). It follows, then, that, because no coverage would have been provided under a standard automobile liability policy issued to Popadich, State Farm is not obligated to provide benefits under the uninsured motorist endorsement of its policy with Langan (see McCarthy v Motor Veh. Acc. Indem. Corp., 16 AD2d at 42). Accordingly, we conclude that State Farm established its prima facie entitlement to judgment as a matter of law with respect to Langan’s claim for uninsured motorist benefits by establishing that Spice-handler’s injury and subsequent death were caused by Popadich’s intentional criminal acts (see Zuckerman v City of New York, 49 NY2d 557, 562 [1980]). In opposition, Langan failed to raise a triable issue of fact.

That does not entirely resolve the issue of coverage, however, as Langan also claims to be entitled to recover benefits under the policy’s mandatory personal injury protection endorsement and its death, dismemberment, and loss of sight provisions. We conclude on the record presented that he is so entitled.

As explained previously, for policy reasons, New York law does not extend coverage under a mandatory uninsured motorist endorsement to injuries caused intentionally by a tortfeasor. In other contexts, however, the issue whether an event may be deemed “accidental” for insurance purposes is “ ‘usually determined by looking at the casualty from the point of view of the insured to see whether or not from his [or her] point of view the event was unexpected, unusual and unforeseen’ ” (Nallan v Union Labor Life Ins. Co., 42 NY2d 884, 885 [1977], quoting 30 NY Jur, Insurance § 1099, at 484 [emphasis added]; see Agoado Realty Corp. v United Intl. Ins. Co., 95 NY2d 141, 145 [2000]).

[285]*285“In the absence of an express provision in the policy to the contrary, where the insured is intentionally injured or killed by another, and the injury or death is not the result of misconduct, provocation, or an assault by the insured, but is unforeseen from the insured’s point of view, and occurs without his or her agency, the injury or death is an accident or accidental, or by accidental means, within the meaning of accident insurance policies, and the insurer is liable therefor” (10 Couch on Insurance 3d § 140:41; see New York Insurance Department Regulations [11 NYCRR] § 60-1.1 [f] [requiring every “owner’s policy of liability insurance” to include “(a) provision that assault and battery shall be deemed an accident unless committed by or at the direction of the insured”]).

Consequently, in contexts other than a claim made under an uninsured motorist endorsement, coverage is unaffected by whether the tortfeasor acted intentionally in causing the injury, provided only that, from the viewpoint of the insured, the event was “unexpected, unusual and unforeseen” (Nallan v Union Labor Life Ins. Co., 42 NY2d 884, 885 [1977]) and not brought about by the insured’s own “misconduct, provocation, or an assault.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 A.D.3d 281, 865 N.Y.S.2d 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-v-langan-nyappdiv-2008.