Opinion ID: 2607677
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Reasonable causation applied.

Text: In reviewing hunting accidents, courts have identified at least five fact patterns, which are listed here in descending order of judicial preference for extending coverage: 1) accidents in which the actual movement of the vehicle caused the firing of the gun, as in transport; 2) accidents in which the discharged gun was being removed from or placed in a gun rack in the vehicle; 3) accidents in which the gun was being loaded into or unloaded from the vehicle; 4) accidents arising from use of the vehicle as a gun rest; and 5) accidents in which the vehicle is described as a mere situs for the accident, such as when children play with guns in a standing vehicle. See Quarles, 533 So.2d 809, 811-12. Clearly, this case does not involve either gun play or use of the vehicle as a gun rest. It is more analogous either to the accidental discharge of a gun while a vehicle is in motion, or to the loading and unloading of guns into or from a vehicle. Under recognized categories, we conclude this accident was reasonably connected with use of a vehicle. If we analyze these facts without reference to other jurisdictions, we still conclude that emptying a gun within the cab of a pickup truck is foreseeably incident to use of that vehicle for hunting. Inclement weather is a frequent condition of hunting trips, and a vehicle is a logical shelter. It is foreseeable that, however unwise it may be, some hunters will load and unload their guns within their trucks. Therefore, by applying the test that we adopt today of reasonable causation between the use of the vehicle and the injury, we hold there is coverage.