Deliberately-Caused Collision Was Not An Accident from the Standpoint of the Insurer of the Driver Who Caused the Collision—However the Collision Was an Accident from the Standpoint of the Insurer of the Victim of the Deliberate Act—Therefore the Uninsured Motorist Endorsement In the Victim’s Policy Kicked In

The Second Department determined a collision caused by the deliberate act of one driver, Demoliere, was an “accident” for purposes of uninsured motorist endorsement of the policy held by the driver killed by the Demoliere’s deliberate act. The incident was not an accident from the standpoint of Demoliere, and that Demoliere’s insurer was therefore off the hook.  However, from the standpoint of the victim of the deliberate act, the incident was an accident covered by the uninsured motorist endorsement in the victim’s policy:

In State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v Langan (16 NY3d 349), the Court of Appeals held that, for the purposes of an uninsured motorist endorsement, when an occurrence is “unexpected, unusual and unforeseen,” from the insured’s perspective, it qualifies as an “accident” (id. at 355 [internal quotation marks omitted]). Here, from the decedent’s perspective, her collision with Demoliere’s vehicle was unexpected, unusual, and unforeseen. Therefore, the occurrence constituted an “accident” within the meaning of the uninsured motorist endorsement of the decedent’s policy … . Matter of Utica Mut Ins Co v Burrous, 2014 NY Slip Op 06986, 2nd Dept 10-15-14