DeVORE, J.
Plaintiff was the victim of a drive-by shooting. As an insured under an auto policy, she sought uninsured motorist (UM) benefits in a contract action against defendant, Farmers Insurance Company (Farmers). After cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court dismissed her claim on the basis that her injury did not "arise out of the * * * use of [an] uninsured vehicle," as provided in ORS 742.504(1)(a) and Farmers' policy. On appeal, the issue is whether this case is governed by our decision 22 years ago interpreting policy language in a claim for UM benefits or is governed by a more recent decision of the Supreme Court interpreting similar statutory language in a claim for personal injury protection (PIP) benefits. Because statutory language prevails over policy language and the Supreme Court's interpretation of similar terms is dispositive, we conclude that the trial court erred in part and that Farmers' policy may cover plaintiff's injuries, although other issues remain for decision. Therefore, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.
The relevant facts are undisputed. Two cars traveled the same direction on a street in northeast Portland. Plaintiff was a passenger in a car insured by Farmers with UM coverage required by ORS 742.504.
The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on coverage. Farmers contended that our decision in Worldwide Underwriters, Ins. Co. v. Jackson, 121 Or.App. 292, 855 P.2d 166, rev. den., 318 Or. 26, 862 P.2d 1306 (1993) (Jackson), should control because the decision construed the same phrase in a UM policy ("arising out of"); determined a gunshot, not a vehicle, to be the "direct cause" of injury; and upheld the denial of coverage. Plaintiff contended that a more recent Supreme Court decision in Carrigan v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 326 Or. 97, 949 P.2d 705 (1997), should control, because the court construed similar language in the PIP statute and rejected a "direct cause" interpretation. Plaintiff reasoned that Carrigan portends that ORS 742.504(1)(a) should require UM coverage for plaintiff's injuries. Farmers responded that Carrigan's interpretation should be limited to PIP coverage as a different form of coverage that provides no-fault coverage for medical bills and wage loss. The trial court deemed Carrigan distinguishable, found Jackson to be on point, denied plaintiff's motion, granted Farmers' motion, and entered judgment dismissing plaintiff's action.
On appeal, plaintiff assigns error to the order granting defendant summary
Our decision in Jackson and the cases on which it relied were indeed cases that construed policies without considering a statutory mandate for coverage, if any pertained. Based in policy language, those cases developed a standard for the causal connection between an injury and use of a vehicle. We first recap Jackson in order to then assess the implication of Carrigan as to the statutory mandate for UM coverage.
Jackson also involved a drive-by shooting. As a car approached the victim, a man leaned out the car window and fired a gun, blinding the victim in his right eye. The man escaped in the car unidentified. The victim's UM insurer sought a declaratory ruling that, under the terms of the policy, the injury did not "arise out of the ownership, maintenance, or use" of the uninsured vehicle.
A member of the court, then-Judge Durham, dissented, drawing from the same precedents. 121 Or.App. at 297, 855 P.2d 166 (Durham, J., dissenting). He quoted a Supreme Court decision for its use of an insurance treatise, which, in part, observed, "The
In Carrigan, the Supreme Court faced the question whether, in light of a statutory mandate, State Farm's policy should provide PIP coverage for a gunshot injury suffered in a carjacking. 326 Or. at 99, 949 P.2d 705. Early one morning, the plaintiff had agreed to give a stranger a ride. Along the way, the stranger Henderson pulled a gun, pointed it at the plaintiff, and gave him directions. Later, Henderson ordered the plaintiff out of the car and into the trunk. The plaintiff could not fit in the trunk. When he backed about 30 feet away from the vehicle, Henderson shot him in the chest. The plaintiff survived to file a claim for PIP benefits for medical expenses. State Farm denied the claim, and the plaintiff initiated a declaratory proceeding to challenge the denial. The trial court gave summary judgment for the insurer. Id. at 100, 949 P.2d 705.
Under ORS 742.520(2)(a), policies are mandated to provide PIP coverage for injuries "resulting * * * from the use, occupancy or maintenance of any motor vehicle."
The Supreme Court reversed. Carrigan, 326 Or. at 105, 949 P.2d 705. The court recognized that the phrase, "resulting from," had two plausible interpretations. One would "limit coverage only to injuries that are inflicted directly by the use of a motor vehicle and during the operation of the vehicle." Id. at 102, 949 P.2d 705 (emphasis in original). Another would "cover injuries that result indirectly from the use of a motor vehicle, as well as those that result directly from such use." Id. at 102-03, 949 P.2d 705 (emphases in original). The court observed:
Id. at 103, 949 P.2d 705. Finding no legislative history on the phrase "resulting from the use * * * of any motor vehicle," the court turned for guidance to the introduction to the Insurance Code. The court noted that ORS 731.008 provides that "the Insurance Code is for the protection of the insurance-buying public." Id. at 104, 949 P.2d 705. And, ORS 731.016 advises that "[t]he Insurance Code shall be liberally construed" to further that purpose. Id. Speaking to the general possibility of coverage, the court announced:
Id. at 105, 949 P.2d 705. That general conclusion, however, did not address the particular
Contrary to defendant's argument, Carrigan cannot be ignored as an aberration involving a distinguishable form of auto coverage. In this case, unlike in Jackson, the plaintiff asserts the statutory terms of UM coverage. Under ORS 742.504, every subject motor vehicle policy must provide terms of coverage that are no less favorable than the statutory terms.
ORS 742.504(1)(a) (emphasis added).
We cannot draw a meaningful distinction between the operative phrase in the UM statute — "arising out of" — and the operative phrase in the PIP statute — "resulting from" — which Carrigan construed.
Plaintiff is correct that Carrigan portends a different result when ORS 742.504(1)(a) is invoked to demand mandated coverage that may be broader than what a policy might provide. See, e.g., Erickson, 331 Or. at 687, 21 P.3d 90 (invalidating "other insurances" provisions in a policy); Vega, 323 Or. at 303, 918 P.2d 95 (invalidating exhaustion clause not permitted by statute at that time). Much like the PIP statute at ORS 742.520(2)(a), the UM statute at ORS 742.504(1)(a) provides that UM coverage "will pay all sums" that would be recoverable "as general or special damages" because of bodily injury "arising out of the ownership,
As was the court in Carrigan, we are mindful of the admonition of ORS 731.008 and ORS 731.016 that the Insurance Code should be liberally construed for the protection of the insurance-buying public. Because a policy must provide coverage no less favorable than the statute, we conclude that ORS 742.504(1)(a) requires UM coverage when the injury arises out of the use of an uninsured vehicle and that coverage cannot be denied based on an interpretation that the gunshots were the "direct cause" of injury.
Understandably, Farmers invokes the doctrine of stare decisis to dissuade this court from reaching a result contrary to Jackson, a similar UM claim based on a drive-by shooting. Stare decisis is a prudential doctrine that embodies the tension between stability and correction of error. See Farmers Ins. Co. v. Mowry, 350 Or. 686, 698, 261 P.3d 1 (2011). The doctrine requires that a court begin with the assumption that issues were correctly resolved in cases previously decided. Id. Departure from precedent may be considered when the previous court was "not presented with an important argument or failed to apply [its] usual framework for decision." Id. The "court is [also] willing to reconsider cases when the legal or factual context has changed in such a way as to seriously undermine the reasoning or result of earlier cases." Id. For both reasons, we do not adhere to Jackson. This court was not asked in Jackson to consider the implication of the statutory mandate for coverage as required by ORS 742.504(1)(a). In addition, the subsequent decision in Carrigan, involving statutory text that cannot be distinguished, represents a changed legal context. Indeed, because Carrigan is a decision of the Supreme Court, it is an interpretation of a similar provision that we are not free to ignore.
Our conclusion on coverage means that the trial court erred in granting Farmers' motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff may show that the offender's vehicle was used to approach with surprise and maximize the likelihood of injury. Those facts would establish that "the temporal and spatial distance" between that vehicle use and the injury are sufficient to permit the conclusion that that the injury arose out of use of the vehicle. See Carrigan, 326 Or. at 105, 949 P.2d 705; see also Davis, 264 Or. 547, 507 P.2d 9 (vehicle used to inflict intentional injury).
Farmers argues that this conclusion should not mean that the trial court erred in denying plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment, by which plaintiff had sought a declaration that there is coverage for this injury. Farmers argues that plaintiff has not yet proved, in the language of the insuring clause, that plaintiff is legally entitled to recover from the "owner or operator of the uninsured * * * motor vehicle." See ORS 742.504(1)(a) (statutory analogue). Farmers disputes whether plaintiff succeeded in showing all that was necessary for coverage, at least at this time.
Farmers is correct. Failure of Farmers' motion to defeat coverage does not require granting plaintiff's cross-motion to declare coverage. The complaint does not allege specifically that Guerrero fired the shots or is otherwise liable as a tort conspirator or joint tortfeasor. No declarations or affidavits
For these reasons, we conclude that the trial court erred in granting Farmers' motion for summary judgment and did not err in denying plaintiff's cross-motion.
Reversed and remanded.
(Boldface omitted; emphasis added.) The comparable, operative provision of the statute provides, in relevant part,
ORS 742.504(1)(a) (emphasis added).
278 Or. at 25 (quoting Appleman 7, Insurance Law and Practice, § 4317, 144 [1967]).
(Emphases added.)