Submitted: January 15, 2019
Appeal
from United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Missouri - St. Louis
Before
LOKEN, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.
LOKEN,
CIRCUIT JUDGE.
The
issue presented by this appeal is whether the widow of Maulik
Patel, the victim of a drive-by shooting while sitting in his
car at a traffic light, may recover damages under the
Uninsured Motorists (UM) Coverage provisions of the
automobile liability policy issued to the Patels by LM
General Insurance Company. The district court[1] granted summary
judgment for LM General, concluding there was no UM coverage
because any liability of the uninsured motorist and his
occupants to Patel did not "arise out of the use"
of the uninsured motor vehicle. "Maulik's injury was
not caused by an uninsured vehicle," the district court
explained; "the shots just happened to come from an
uninsured vehicle." Applying Missouri law, we affirm.
After
the drive-by shooting, Maulik's widow, Ripal, sued LM
General to recover the Policy's UM coverage limits, $250,
000. In submitting LM General's motion for summary
judgment, the parties agreed the following facts are
undisputed:
"On January 11, 2016, Maulik . . . was killed by gun
fire while stopped in traffic . . . near Goodfellow Boulevard
and Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Missouri."
"The occupants of an unknown vehicle fired several shots
from the unknown vehicle, hitting Maulik and his 2011 Hyundai
Sonata. Maulik exited his vehicle and was shot again outside
of the vehicle."
The Policy provides UM coverage limits of $250, 000 for each
person. Both Maulik and Ripal are "insureds" under
the UM Coverage part.
"The unidentified vehicle that the shooters occupied
never hit or otherwise made physical contact with Maulik or
his vehicle."
The
parties agree that Missouri law governs the UM coverage issue
in this diversity action. The Missouri insurance statutes
provide in relevant part:
No automobile liability insurance covering liability arising
out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor
vehicle shall be delivered or issued . . . unless coverage is
provided [in not less than required minimum limits] for the
protection of persons insured thereunder who are legally
entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of
uninsured motor vehicles because of bodily injury . . .
resulting therefrom.
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 379.203(1). Consistent with this
statute, LM General's Policy issued to Maulik and Ripal
Patel included a UM Coverage part:
INSURING
...