FAILING TO RENDER AID AT AN ACCIDENT NOT COVERED

The Mississippi Supreme Court recently affirmed a trial court ruling that a policy motor vehicle exclusion barred coverage for a claim of delay in rendering aid after an accident,  In Champ v. Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co., 2021 WL 790679 (Miss. March 2, 2021), the issue before the court was whether a homeowner policy’s motor vehicle exclusion applied to a post-accident claim of delay in rendering aid at the scene of an accident.  The trial court granted summary judgment for the insurer.  The court found that the pedestrian’s injuries would not have occurred but for the use or operation of a motor vehicle and, therefore, the motor vehicle proximately caused the pedestrian’s injuries, which brought the potential claim within the scope of the homeowner policy automobile exclusion.  In confirming the trial court, the Mississippi Supreme Court rejected the insured’s argument that the delay in rendering aid was unrelated to the use or operation of the vehicle.