If another person in a road rage incident deliberately harms you, can the insurance company get out of paying for the damage?
In some cases yes, because of something called “the intentional acts exclusion.”
The intentional act exclusion means that if someone does something on purpose to harm someone else, the insurance company won’t pay for it.
For example, if someone decides to run someone else over with their car on purpose, any claim likely would be excluded as an intentional act.
But usually it is not clear whether the act was intentional.
Let me illustrate from a personal example.
On the way to my office this morning, I took the freeway on-ramp to go on the freeway. There is construction there that merges two southbound lanes pretty quickly.
In order for there not be a crash, usually cars already on the freeway have to slow down to let the merging traffic in.
This morning, another driver sped up and did not want to let me in. I just barely made it without getting rear-ended.
If the other driver had simply been distracted, and rear-ended me because of that, it would have been negligence, and there would have been insurance coverage.
But the other driver became angry and started tailgating me inches from my back bumper while flashing his lights.
Luckily, there was no crash. But if traffic had slowed suddenly he would have rear-ended me.
He probably intended to annoy me, but he probably did not intend to rear end me.
If I had been rearended, and I told the police officer at the scene that “he did it on purpose” that would give the other driver’s insurance company the opportunity to void coverage under the intentional acts exclusion.
Because I would not actually know what the other driver’s intent was, I would simply tell the officer that the other driver tailgated me and then rear-ended me. That way I wouldn’t be giving his insurance company the opportunity to try to void coverage based on my own speculation about what the other driver’s intent was.
So if you are ever hurt by a road rager, don’t speculate about the road rager’s intent. You might talk yourself out of insurance coverage.
John Evans Injury Law
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