Texas Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sturrock

• Decision Date: 27 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 02-0069.,02-0069.
• Citation: 146 S.W.3d 123
• Parties: TEXAS FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Jeff A. STURROCK, Respondent.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

146 S.W.3d 123

TEXAS FARM BUREAU MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Jeff A. STURROCK, Respondent.

No. 02-0069.

Supreme Court of Texas.

Argued April 16, 2003.

Decided August 27, 2004.

Rehearing Denied November 5, 2004.

Appeal from the First District Court, Jasper County, Joe Bob Golden, Jr Jay Thompson, Thompson, Coe, Cousins, & Irons, L.L.P., Dallas, for amicus curiae, National Association of Indepe.

Sarah C. Wells, Asst. Atty. Gen., Austin, for amicus curiae, Texas Department of Insurance.

Amy Douthitt Maddux, Tynan Buthod, Baker Botts, L.L.P., Houston, for petitioner.

Sid S. Stover, Seale Stover Bisbey & Morian, Jasper, for respondent.

Justice O'NEILL delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice PHILLIPS, Justice JEFFERSON, Justice SCHNEIDER and Justice SMITH joined.

In this case, an insured was injured when his foot became entangled with his truck's raised door facing while he was exiting the vehicle. We must decide whether his injury resulted from a "motor vehicle accident" for purposes of personal injury protection (PIP) coverage under his Texas standard automobile insurance policy. We hold that a "motor vehicle accident" occurs when (1) one or more vehicles are involved with another vehicle, an object, or a person, (2) the vehicle is being used, including exit and entry, as a motor vehicle, and (3) a causal connection exists between the vehicle's use and the injury-producing event. We conclude that the insured's injury here resulted from a "motor vehicle accident" within his policy's PIP coverage. Accordingly, we affirm the court of appeals' judgment.

I

Jeff Sturrock drove his truck to work, parked, and turned off the engine. While exiting the truck, he entangled his left foot on the raised portion of the truck's door facing. Sturrock injured his neck and shoulder in his attempt to prevent himself from falling from the vehicle. Sturrock filed a claim for PIP benefits under his vehicle's insurance policy, issued by Texas Farm Bureau.

The Texas Insurance Code requires that every automobile insurance policy issued within Texas provide PIP coverage, unless rejected by the insured. See Tex. Ins.Code art. 5.06-3(a). It is the public policy of Texas to provide injured occupants of the insured vehicle PIP benefits, up to the statutory maximum of $2,500, without regard to fault or nonfault of the insured. See id. art. 5.06-3(b), (c); Unigard Sec. Ins. Co. v. Schaefer, 572 S.W.2d 303, 308 (Tex.1978). Sturrock's policy provides, in pertinent part:

A. We will pay Personal Injury Protection benefits because of bodily injury:

1. resulting from a motor vehicle accident; and

2. sustained by a covered person.

(Emphasis added). Texas Farm Bureau does not dispute that Sturrock is a "covered person" under the policy, but denies that Sturrock's injuries resulted from a "motor vehicle accident" within the policy's PIP coverage.

Sturrock sued Texas Farm Bureau for breach of contract and violations of Article 21.21 of the Texas Insurance Code. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The parties then filed an "greed Statement of Facts, pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 263,¹ and asked the trial court `to apply the law to these agreed facts and determine whether Sturrock's injuries resulted from `a motor vehicle accident' within the meaning of the policy." The trial court held that, as a matter of law, Sturrock's injuries resulted from a "motor vehicle accident" covered by the policy's PIP provisions, and the court of appeals affirmed. 65 S.W.3d 763. We granted review to determine whether Sturrock's injuries resulted from a "motor vehicle accident" within the policy's PIP coverage.²

II

We construe insurance policies in Texas according to the rules governing contract construction. Am. Mfrs. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Schaefer, 124 S.W.3d 154, 157 (Tex.2003); Tex. Farmers Ins. Co. v. Murphy, 996 S.W.2d 873, 879 (Tex.1999). If policy language can be given a certain or definite legal meaning or interpretation, then it is not ambiguous and we construe it as a matter of law. Schaefer, 124 S.W.3d at 157; Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 393 (Tex.1983). Whether a contract is ambiguous is itself a question of law. Schaefer, 124 S.W.3d at 157; Kelley-Coppedge, Inc. v. Highlands Ins. Co., 980 S.W.2d 462, 464 (Tex.1998). An ambiguity does not arise simply because the parties offer conflicting interpretations of the policy language. Schaefer, 124 S.W.3d at 157; Kelley-Coppedge, 980 S.W.2d at 464. Rather, an ambiguity exists only if the contract is susceptible to two or more reasonable interpretations. Schaefer, 124 S.W.3d at 157; Kelley-Coppedge, 980 S.W.2d at 464.

Neither party contends that the term "motor vehicle accident" is ambiguous, although each asserts a different interpretation. We have held that the term "auto accident"³ is not ambiguous. Farmers Tex. County Mut. Ins. Co. v. Griffin, 955 S.W.2d 81, 83 (Tex.1997); see also Aetna Life & Cas. v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. CIV. A.96-5995, 1997 WL 746189, at *4 (E.D.Pa. Nov.26, 1997) (finding the term "auto accident" unambiguous despite parties' differing interpretations of the term); Tyrrell v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Wash., 140 Wash.2d 129, 994 P.2d 833, 837-38 (2000) (en banc) (concluding that term "motor vehicle accident" is not ambiguous); Jordan v. United Equitable Life Ins. Co., 486 S.W.2d 664, 667 (Mo.Ct.App.1972) (finding that the words "automobile accident" are not ambiguous and should be given their ordinary meaning). Accordingly, we construe the term "motor vehicle accident" as a matter of law.

III

Citing our decision in Griffin, Texas Farm Bureau argues that accidents like the one Sturrock experienced do not fit within the plain meaning of "motor vehicle accident" because the term requires some involvement between the covered motor vehicle and another vehicle, person, or object. Griffin, 955 S.W.2d at 83. Because Sturrock's accident did not involve another vehicle or person, Texas Farm Bureau contends, Sturrock's injuries did not result from a "motor vehicle accident." Conversely, Sturrock claims this Court has determined that a "motor vehicle accident" does not require a collision, and the incident at hand was a "motor vehicle accident" because the vehicle itself produced the injury.

As the parties' contentions indicate, this is not the first time we have examined the meaning of the term "motor vehicle accident" in a personal automobile liability insurance policy. In Griffin, an insured, James Royal, III, drove his vehicle while two passengers fired shots that hit and injured Griffin as he walked down the street. Royal's policy covered damages for which its insured became legally responsible "because of an auto accident." We stated that "`[t]he term "auto accident" refers to situations where one or more vehicles are involved with another vehicle, object, or person.'" Id. (quoting State Farm Mut. Ins. Co. v. Peck, 900 S.W.2d 910, 913 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 1995, no writ)). With this definition in mind, we held that State Farm had no duty to defend or indemnify its insured because "a drive-by-shooting [could not be transformed] into an `auto accident'" under the policy. Id. at 84. Although this was the extent of our analysis, we relied on the court of appeals' decision in Peck, which reasoned that an accident is not an "auto accident" just because it takes place in or near an automobile; instead, "the automobile must, in some manner, be involved in the accident." Peck, 900 S.W.2d at 913.

We most recently addressed the meaning of the term "automobile accident" in Mid-Century Insurance Co. of Texas v. Lindsey, 997 S.W.2d 153 (Tex.1999). There, Lindsey, a passenger in his mother's car, was shot by a gun that accidentally discharged from an adjacent truck when a boy attempted to enter the cab through the rear window. Lindsey filed a claim under the uninsured/underinsured motorists (UM/UIM) provision of his mother's policy, which covered injuries resulting from "an accident" that "arise[s] out of the... use of the uninsured [or underinsured] motor vehicle." Id. at 155. Mid-Century denied the claim, arguing that under the policy the term "accident" meant "auto accident," as evidenced by the latter phrase's use throughout the policy—a more restrictive term than an accident that merely "arises out of" a vehicle's use. An "auto accident," Mid-Century claimed, requires a collision. We accepted the first part of Mid-Century's argument for purposes of our holding, but disagreed that the term "auto accident" required a collision or excluded occurrences like Lindsey's:

Assuming that "auto accident" is a more restrictive term in the policy than "accident", and that a fair construction of the policy as a whole requires that the restriction be implied in the uninsured/underinsured motorist provision where it does not appear, we do not agree that the term excludes the occurrence here.... Nothing in [Griffin or Peck] suggests that an "auto accident" requires a collision....

Id. at 155-56. We agreed with the trial court and the court of appeals that Lindsey's injury was caused by an "auto accident" under the policy. Id. at 156.

Recognizing that our holding in Lindsey would appear to support coverage for Sturrock's injuries, Texas Farm Bureau seeks to distinguish this case in three respects. First, Texas Farm Bureau argues that we should reject the above-quoted language as dicta. The dissenting justices similarly try to avoid Lindsey's holding by stating that our discussion regarding the requirement of an "auto accident" was not the primary focus of the case and declaring that the discussion was not necessary to our decision. 146 S.W.3d at 136-37 (Owen, J., dissenting). While the dissent is correct that two separate issues were raised in Lindsey—namely whether there was an accident and, if so, whether the accident arose from the use of the vehicle—that the first issue did not receive the majority of our attention does not make it any less essential to the...