The Eleventh Circuit, following Georgia law, found the cause theory meant there was a single occurrence in a multi-car accident. Grange Mut. Cas. Co. v Slaughter, 2020 U.S. App LEXIS 14057 (11th Cir. May 1, 2020).
Driving a truck owned by Four Seasons Trucking (FST), Mark Lucas crossed the center lane and collided with two vehicles, one right after the other. Grange insured the truck. Grange sued for declaratory relief, asking the district court to establish its obligations under the policy.
The district court concluded there was a single accident. Georgia used the cause theory to define the word "accident" in the policy. Under this theory, the number of accidents was determined by the number of causes of the injuries, with the court asking if there was but one proximate, uninterrupted, and continuing cause which resulted in all of the injuries and damage.
The policy defined "accident" to incur continuous or repeated exposure to the same conditions resulting in "body injury" or "property damage." Further, the limit of insurance clause in the policy applied "regardless of the number of . . . vehicles involved in the 'accident'." The district court concluded that FST's argument that any time separate collisions occurred, there were different "conditions" would read that language out of the policy. The court also rejected FST's suggestion that any time there was a multi-auto collision, there were multiple accidents.
The Eleventh Circuit agreed. Under the cause theory adopted in Georgia, courts looked to whether, after the cause of the initial collision, the driver regained control of the vehicle before a subsequent collision, so that it could be said there was a second intervening cause and therefore a second accident.
Here, there was no evidence that Lucas regained control of the truck as he crossed the centre line and collided with the two vehicles. The policy's limit of insurance clause also contemplated that multiple vehicles could be involved in a single accident.
