In Harris v. Safeway Insurance Co. of Louisiana, 373 S.3d 124 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 2023), the Louisiana appellate court upheld a criminal conduct exclusion in an automobile policy precluding coverage for a passenger’s injuries that were incurred when the driver ran a stop sign and collided with another vehicle after a high speed police pursuit. Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a high speed police pursuit. The driver of the vehicle ignored a stop sign and then collided with another vehicle, after which the driver was arrested at the scene for aggravated flight from an officer and possession narcotics.
Safeway insured the driver. Safeway denied coverage for the plaintiff’s injuries based on a criminal act exclusion within the policy that provided the policy would not apply to bodily injury arising from the operation of the vehicle in the commission of or flight from a crime. Initially, the trial court denied Safeway’s MSJ, pointing to “some innuendo” that the driver had withdrawn from the police officers prior to the collision and that the driver was trying to pull over at the time of the accident. On a supervisory writ, however, the Louisiana Court of Appeals reversed the trial court denial of the MSJ. The Court of Appeals dismissed the plaintiff’s claims against Safeway. The Court of Appeals found that irrespective of whether the driver was contemplating discontinuing his flight from the police, the facts clearly establish that the accident occurred immediately after the driver ran through a stop sign. The policy criminal act exclusion was applicable.