Accident by Uninsured Motorist Cause of Hostility Between the Parties but Not of Injury Due to Altercation

In Race v. Nationwide Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 542 So. 2d 347 (Fla. 1989), the issue was whether uninsured motorist coverage covered injuries arising from a physical altercation that occurred just after an accident. Id. at 348. In analyzing the issue, the Court stated that "the phrase 'arising out of' does not have the same meaning as 'proximately caused by,' and that the language of the policy should be liberally construed to effect broad coverage." Id. However, the Court found no coverage even under an expansive reading of "arising out of": "The most that can be said is that the driving of the uninsured motorist which caused the accident created an atmosphere of hostility between the parties. It had nothing to do with [the underlying plaintiff's] injuries, which only came about several minutes later . . . ." Id. at 351. The Court did not decide whether the term "arising out of" was ambiguous.