Court Opinion

ID: 9853318
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:46:34.488088+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:45.643921
License: Public Domain

Pope, Judge,
concurring specially.
1. I concur fully in Divisions 2,3,4 and 5 of the majority opinion.
2. While I concur in the judgment of the majority in Division 1 which reverses the trial court’s directed verdict for defendants on the issue of “use,” I do so based upon a different rationale.
I believe that a verdict should have been directed in favor of the insurer on the issue of whether or not the injury arose out of the “use” of the vehicle. It is apparent to me that Burnett’s heated behavior, retrieval of his loaded gun, placement of the gun within his reach in the car, and finally directed at his girl friend add up to an intention to “have it out” with her. That he chose his car as the location is, to me, entirely incidental. His behavior and obvious intent are sufficient to act as an intervening cause so as to break the somewhat tenuous causal connection between the operation of the vehicle and the injury. In other words, the purpose for which Burnett employed the vehicle is simply not a “use” contemplated by the insurer and the insured.
While case law supports the provision of coverage in situations of injury from the discharge of a firearm within a vehicle, those cases lack the criminal element present here. They are, instead, cases in which the persons within the vehicle were there with a common purpose, devoid of hostile or criminal intent, and using the vehicle for its intended purpose. See Payne v. Southern Guaranty Ins. Co., 159 Ga. App. 67 (282 SE2d 711) (1981); Southeastern Fidelity Ins. Co. v. *485Stevens, 142 Ga. App. 562 (1) (236 SE2d 550) (1977). Cf. Washington v. Hartford Accident &c. Co., 161 Ga. App. 431 (1) (288 SE2d 343) (1982). The bounds of reason are stretched to the breaking point by allowing a finding that the injury in this case is even remotely connected with the “use” of the vehicle so as to bring it within the provisions of the insurance coverage sought.