More Than One Collision, But How Many Accidents?

• Published date: 26 August 2021
• Subject Matter: Insurance, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Insurance Laws and Products, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Personal Injury
• Law Firm: Butler Weihmuller Katz Craig LLP
• Author: Mr Matthew J. Lavisky

Automobile insurance policies specify a maximum amount the insurer will pay for a single accident. This coverage limit applies both to liability and uninsured/underinsured motorist ("UM") coverages. Insurance policies often contain language providing that the applicable coverage limit is the most the insurer will pay in any one accident regardless of the number of vehicles involved.

This seems simple enough but "few insurance policy terms have 'provoked more controversy in litigation than the word 'accident.'"¹ This is unsurprising since determining the number of accidents will determine the amount of coverage available under the insurance policy. Counting the number of impacts or collisions does not answer the question because "a single accident may involve more than one impact or collision."²

In the context of liability coverage, the majority rule is that:

Collisions with multiple vehicles constitute one occurrence when the collisions are nearly simultaneous or separated by a very short period of time and the insured does not maintain or regain control over his or her vehicle between collisions. When collisions between multiple vehicles are separated by a period of time or the insured maintains or regains control of the vehicle before a subsequent collision, there are multiple occurrences.³

This test does not, however, lend itself to UM claims where the insured only was involved in a single collision. That is because in the context of liability coverage, the parties and the court generally must determine how many accidents occurred when an insured struck two different people in close succession. In UM coverage, however, the issue of the number of accident arises because a single insured has been injured but claims the injuries resulted from multiple accidents.

The court in Travelers Indem. Co. v. Garcia⁴ recently addressed this issue in the context of UM coverage. In Garcia, the insured tragically was killed when a dump truck crashed into the back of the insured vehicle. This collision occurred as the insured slowed his vehicle down and began to come to a stop due to a traffic backup. The traffic backup that caused the insured to slow down was the result of a collision that occurred five minutes earlier and two miles away.

The insurer paid the per accident UM coverage limit. However, the insured's estate took the position that the insured was injured in two accidents: the collision that caused the traffic to slow and the collision with the dump truck...