Patel v. LM General Insurance Co., No. 18-2035 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this Case
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for LM General in an uninsured motorists (UM) coverage dispute. The district court concluded that there was no UM coverage because any liability of the uninsured motorist and his occupants to plaintiff did not arise out of the use of the uninsured motor vehicle.
The court held that Missouri law requires UM coverage whenever an uninsured motorist is liable for injury to the insured arising out of the motorist's use of his uninsured auto. In this case, the injuries inflicted on a victim of a drive-by shooting by the occupant of a motor vehicle were not injuries which arise out of the "use" of the motor vehicle because the motor vehicle was merely the "situs" or "locus" of the cause of the victim's injuries and the discharge of the gun was unconnected to the inherent use of the motor vehicle.
Court Description: Loken, Author, with Grasz and Stras, Circuit Judges] Civil Case - Diversity. In suit for recovery under uninsured motorist coverage for damages resulting from death by drive-by shooting while sitting in the car, the district court did not err in granting summary judgment to the insurer because the insured's injury did not arise out of the use of a vehicle. The Missouri statute requires that the uninsured motorist is liable for injury to the insured arising out of the motorist's use of his uninsured auto and here the injuries inflicted on a victim of a drive-by shooting by the occupant of a motor vehicle are not injuries which arise out of the use of the motor vehicle because the discharge of the gun in unconnected to the inherent use of the motor vehicle.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.