American National Property & Casualty Co. v. Julie R.

A man so operates and positions his car as to imprison his passenger, whom he then rapes. The more detailed pertinent facts are these: the man drove the young woman, soon to be his victim, to Malibu, then to Hollywood where they had dinner. He then drove the car, with the lady as a passenger, onto a freeway and pulled over in such a way that the passenger door was pressed against a chain link fence. The passenger door also was locked. When the man made sexual advances toward the woman, she tried to get out of the car. She could not, because the passenger car door was locked with the window up, and she could not find the control panel to lower it. She also was too far back in the seat, which the man had reclined, to kick out the front window, although she tried to do so. The man took advantage of these circumstances to rape her.

In employing the car as a cage to imprison the woman, was the attacker using it in such a way that the victim’s injuries arose out of the “use of a motor vehicle”? To ask that question is to answer it. The answer is “yes.”

*146 The vehicle was uninsured. The woman was insured under the uninsured and underinsured motorist provision of her father’s policy.…

Julie R. was raped by the uninsured driver of a car in which she was riding. She filed a claim against her uninsured motorist insurance policy, contending that her injuries from the assault arose out of the use of her assailant’s vehicle. The insurance company filed a declaratory relief action, seeking a declaration that the policy did not cover Julie R.’s injuries. We agree with the trial court that the policy does not provide coverage because there is an insufficient causal link between Julie R.’s injuries from the assault and the assailant’s use of his vehicle.

*137 Factual and Procedural Background

On July 22, 1995, Julie R. accompanied an acquaintance, Hooman Sebastian Aazami (Aazami), to the beach in Malibu. After about two hours they went to dinner at a restaurant in Hollywood. They departed the restaurant in Aazami’s BMW, which he was driving. Aazami stopped the car along the side of the Interstate 5 freeway near the Los Angeles River. Aazami parked the car against a chain link fence so that the passenger side door of the car could not be opened. Aazami got out of the car, stating that he needed to relieve himself.

When he returned to the car he began to make…

Julie R. was raped by the uninsured driver of a car in which she was riding. She filed a claim against her uninsured motorist insurance policy, contending that her injuries from the assault arose out of the use of her assailant's vehicle. The insurance company filed a declaratory relief action, seeking a declaration that the policy did not cover Julie R. injuries. We agree with the trial court that the policy does not provide coverage because there is an insufficient causal link between Julie R. injuries from the assault and the assailant's use of his vehicle.

On July 22, 1995, Julie R. accompanied an acquaintance, Hooman Sebastian Aazami (Aazami), to the beach in Malibu. After about two hours they went to dinner at a restaurant in Hollywood. They departed the restaurant in Aazami's BMW, which he was driving. Aazami stopped the car along the side of the Interstate 5 Freeway near the Los Angeles River. Aazami parked the car against a chain link fence so that the passenger side door of the car could not be opened. Aazami got out of the car, stating that he needed to relieve himself.

When he returned to the car he began to make unwanted sexual advances toward Julie R.…