Consumer Law

Texas Supreme Court limits uninsured motorist coverage.

By Richard Alderman

In what I find to be a very interesting opinion, but not that surprising, the Texas Supreme Court has supported the insurance industry's position that uninsured motorist coverage doesn?t cover a collision with just part of a motor vehicle. In Nationwide Insurance Co. v. Elchehimi, the court found no liability under an uninsured motorists provision because there was no contact with a ?vehicle.?

The case involved a driver who hit an axel-wheel assembly that had separated from an unidentified semi-trailer truck. The court held that contact with a piece of a motor vehicle that comes off of the motor vehicle, is not contact with a motor vehicle for purposes of the uninsured motorist statute. In other words, if an uninsured vehicle is in an accident and your car runs into it, your uninsured motorist coverage will apply. On the other hand, if the car?s bumper comes off during the accident and damages your car or injures you, uninsured motorist coverage will not apply. I guess a law professor could play with this and query what happens if the vehicle splits in half during the collision. Is each half a ?vehicle,? or neither? I am not an expert in insurance law, but it seems to me that this is just another example of a big insurance company prevailing in a consumer lawsuit.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on April 03, 2008 (boomark / email).