Three collisions. One occurrence?

Originally published by David Coale.

A gruesome series of automobile accidents led to a fundamental question about causation and insurance coverage in Evanston Ins. Co. v. Mid-Continent Casualty Co.: “Over a ten-minute period on November 15, 2013, the insured’s Mack truck struck (1) a Dodge Ram, (2) a Ford F150, (3) a Honda Accord, (4) a toll plaza, and (5) a Dodge Charger. . . . [T]he Mack truck’s primary insurer refused to contribute more than $1 million toward the settlements of the final three collisions, claiming that they were part of a single ‘accident’ under its policy.”  Examining the reference points about this question under Texas law, the Fifth Circuit noted that:

• Eight specific sales from one shipment of contaminated bird seed created eight separate occurrences;
• Two fires, set by the same arsonist “several blocks and at least two hours apart,” created two separate occurrences; and
• “[A]n HEB employee’s sexual abuse of two different children, a week apart, at an HEB store” created separate occurrences; however,
• A flawed three-hour crop dusting that damaged the land of several neighbors created one occurrence, even though “the plane had landed several times to refuel . . . [and] the temperature, wind, and altitude varied during the several passes over different sections of thee property”; and
• Two separate storms that damaged the same drilling rig created two separate occurrences.

Under the principles behind these cases, the Court found that the harm caused by the Mack truck’s driver created a single occurrence: “Absent any indication that the driver regained control of the truck or that his negligence was otherwise interrupted between collisions . . . all of the collisions resulted from the same continuous condition – the unbroken negligence of the Mack truck driver.” No. 17-20812 (Nov. 19, 2018).

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