We are being asked to extend the interpretation of Missouri’s Uninsured Motorist Statute to require that companies offering uninsured motorist insurance provide coverage to insureds injured in fisticuffs occurring after car collisions. We decline this request and affirm the trial court’s finding.
On January 27, 1989, Arthur Lemmons (appellant) was driving his ear when he was struck in the rear by a car occupied by unknown and unidentified individuals. The unidentified driver proceeded to sideswipe appellant’s car. Appellant stipulated that he was not injured during either of these eolli-
Appellant sustained serious head and jaw injuries at the hands of his assailants. He filed claims for uninsured motorist and medical payment coverage against Prudential Insurance Company (Prudential) and American Family Insurance Company (American). Prudential held the policy on the car appellant was driving on the day he was attacked and American held the policy on another car appellant owned. Both companies denied coverage. Appellant then brought suit against the companies. The parties submitted the case on the pleadings, a set of stipulated facts and appellant’s deposition. The trial judge entered judgment in favor of the insurance companies on the basis that the uninsured vehicle was not the instrumentality which injured appellant and the subsequent assault constituted an intervening cause which severed any causal relationship between the use of the vehicle and appellant’s injuries. This appeal followed.
In a court-tried case, the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed unless there is no evidence to support it, it is against the weight of the evidence or it erroneously declares or applies the law. When a case is submitted on stipulated facts, but the parties have not conceded all ultimate facts or factual inferences, we review the record in the light most favorable to the respondent and disregard all inferences which are favorable to the appellant. Grave v. Missouri Property Ins. Placement Facility,
Appellant first claims the trial court erroneously found he was not entitled to uninsured motorist benefits. Section 379.203 RSMo Cum.Supp.1993 dictates the minimum requirements for uninsured motorist policies. Insurance companies, of course, are always free to implement policies which exceed the statutory requirements. See Omaha Indem. Co. v. Pall, Inc.,
No automobile liability insurance covering liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any motor vehicle shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this state with respect to any motor vehicle registered or principally garaged in this state unless coverage is provided therein or supplemental thereto, or in the case of any commercial motor vehicle, as defined in section 301.010 RSMo, any employer having a fleet of five or more passenger vehicles, such coverage is offered therein or supplemental thereto in not less than the limits for bodily injury or death set forth in section S0S.0S0, RSMo, 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, sickness or disease, including death, resulting therefrom. Such legal entitlement exists although the identity of the owner or operator of the motor vehicle cannot be established because such owner or operator and the motor vehicle departed the scene of the occurrence occasioning such bodily injury, sickness, or disease, including death, before identification. It also exists whether or not physical contact was made between the uninsured motor vehicle and the insured, or the insured’s motor vehicle_ [emphasis added].
Appellant claims both Prudential’s and American’s uninsured motorist policies violate Missouri’s Uninsured Motorist statute. Prudential’s Uninsured Motorist Coverage Policy provides:
If you have this coverage (see the Declarations), we will pay up to our limit of liability for bodily injury that is covered under this part when an insured (whether or not occupying a ear) is struck by an uninsured vehicle. Our payment is based on the amount that our insured is legally entitled to recover for bodily injury but could not*856 collect from the owner or driver of the uninsured motor vehicle because:
* THE OWNER OR DRIVER IS NOT INSURED
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* THE ACCIDENT IS A HIT AND RUN
The owner and the driver of the motor vehicle which caused bodily injury by hitting a person insured under this part or by hitting a car that person was occupying at the time of the accident cannot be identified_ (emphasis add-
ed).
American’s Uninsured Motorist Coverage Policy provides:
... we will pay compensatory damages for bodily injury which an insured person is legally entitled to recover from the owner ■ or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle. The bodily injury must be sustained by an insured person and must be caused by accident and arise out of the use of the uninsured motor vehicle....
3. Uninsured motor vehicle means a vehicle which is:
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c. A hit-and-run whose operator or owner is unknown and which causes bodily injury to you or a relative, (emphasis added).
Appellant first contends American’s requirement the injury “must be caused by accident and arise out of the use of the uninsured motor vehicle” violates Missouri’s uninsured motorist statute which our court has held does not differentiate between negligent and intentional acts. See Thornburg v. Farmers Ins. Co., 859 S.W.2d 847, 849 (Mo.App.W.D.1993); See also Keeler v. Farmers and Merchants Ins. Co.,
Appellant argues American’s policy that the injury “must be caused by accident and arise out of the use of the uninsured motor vehicle” and Prudential’s requirement that the injury occur when an insured is “struck by an uninsured vehicle” violate Missouri law because the correct test for determining whether coverage applies is one of proximate cause. He claims coverage under these circumstances should be mandated because fights are a foreseeable consequence of car collisions and they may arise out of the operation or use of the vehicle in an unbroken chain of events. Appellant, therefore, tries to show that the assault and battery occurred only moments after the cars stopped, that appellant may have had one foot still in the car or have been standing between the open door and the car at the time of the attack, that the collision inflamed the unidentified driver who then attacked appellant and appellant’s injuries were therefore “caused” by or “[arose] out of’ the collision.
In Stucky v. Long,
The Florida Supreme Court reached a similar result in Race v. Nationwide Mut. Fire Ins. Co.,
1. The aceident must have arisen out of the inherent nature of the automobile, as such;
2. The aceident must have arisen within the natural territorial limits of an automobile, and the actual use, loading, or unloading must not have terminated;
3. The automobile must not merely contribute to cause the condition which produces the injury, but must, itself, produce the injury. Id. at 349.
Utilizing these rules, the court found injuries sustained by an insured, who was assaulted on the highway by the driver of an uninsured vehicle following a minor collision, were not covered by the uninsured motorist provision. The court noted “[T]he most that can be said is that the driving of the uninsured motorist which caused the accident created an atmosphere of hostility between the parties. It had nothing to do with [the insured’s] injuries, which only came about several minutes later when [the assailant] thought [the insured] was reaching for a gun.” Id. at 351. We adopt the guidelines articulated in Race to aid our court in determining whether uninsured motorist benefits are owed. See 3 ROWLAND H. LONG, THE LAW OF LIABILITY INSURANCE § 24.14 at 24-74 (1994).
Citing Roller v. Stonewall Ins. Co.,
We have considered all of the cases from other states cited by appellant as well as many cases which we found through our own research. Some of the cases in which the appellate court found coverage are unpersuasive and do not warrant discussion. In some of the cases which appellant cites as support, the vehicle was the instrumentality which caused the injuries. For example, in Thornburg,
Further, in Sciascia v. American Insurance Co.,
Section 379.203.1 RSMo Cum.Supp. 1993 only requires companies offering uninsured motorist insurance provide coverage in incidents in which the insured’s injuries “[arose] out of the ownership, maintenance or use of any motor vehicle.” It, therefore, does not require insurers to be guarantors of an insured’s safety in a situation in which a motor vehicle is not the instrumentality which causes the injury. Moreover, neither Prudential nor American expressed any intention to provide greater uninsured motorist coverage than required by statute. The trial court, therefore, did not err when it denied appellant coverage under the uninsured motorist policies.
Appellant also asks this court to reverse the trial court’s determination that appellant was not entitled to coverage under Prudential’s or American’s medical payment policies. Prudential’s Medical Payments Coverage Policy provides:
PART 2 MEDICAL PAYMENTS — IF YOU ARE INJURED IN A CAR ACCIDENT ...
[coverage is limited to injuries] which result from a car accident covered under this part (emphasis added)
American’s Medical Payments Coverage Policy provides:
We will pay fair expenses incurred for necessary medical and funeral services performed within me year of the accident because of bodily injury to an insured person.
Insured person or insured persons means: 1. You or any relative while occupying, or when struck by, a highway vehicle or trailer.... (emphasis added)
Missouri does not have a statute which regulates medical payments coverage in the same manner which § 379.203 RSMo Cum.Supp.1993 regulates Uninsured Motorist Coverage policies. Therefore, in deciding this issue, we must refer only to the contract terms. A review of the policies demonstrates that neither insurance company offered medical payments coverage for injuries which were not sustained during a car colli
Notes
. In Novak,
. Appellant erroneously claimed at p. 21 of his brief that the court found coverage in this case.