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Safeco Ins. Co. of America v. Sanders12/4/1990
Co. v. Velthouse, 751 P.2d 1, 3 (Alaska 1986). While the vehicle does not have to be the proximate cause, in the strict legal sense, the injury must at least relate to the inherent use of the vehicle. Id.
Rather than rely on "acts of independent significance" to sever the chain of events as the majority does, I would simply hold that as a matter of law the murders were not causally connected to the inherent use of the vehicle. While both rationales reach the same conclusion, the latter more narrowly defines the applicable test. This construction would allow for consideration of the contracting parties intent, while recognizing that a link between the vehicle and the injury must exist. Sciascia v. Am. Ins. Co., 183 N.J. Super. 352, 443 A.2d 1118, 1122 (1982).
Here, the felonious deeds of Hain and Lambert accomplished the murders. The deaths did not arise out of the inherent use of the vehicle. Automobiles are for locomotion, not for imprisonment nor criminal incineration. Thus, while I agree that the U.M. carrier cannot be held liable, I do so for the reason that there is no causal connection between these tragic deaths and the inherent use of the vehicle.
As for the remaining questions, the view asserted here as to the first question makes it unnecessary to address them. It is immaterial whether there was an act of "independent significance," or whether the perpetrators of the crime were considered "operators" of the vehicle. Under any answers to those questions the insurer is simply not liable under the uninsured motorist provision, and that is because the deaths did not arise out of the inherent use of the vehicle.
I am authorized to state that Justice LAVENDER and Justice SIMMS join in these views.
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