Victory in Albuquerque Trial!

2016-05-03

After the plaintiffs presented their case to the judge in this week's bench trial, in the Second Judicial District Court, County of Bernalillo, State of New Mexico, Shannon Parden and Shona Zimmerman made a motion for a directed verdict on behalf of our client. The judge granted the motion, the case is over, and the defense wins! The judge ruled that our client's liability was not proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

The case involved claims for kidnapping, sexual assault, breach of contract, and declaratory judgment as to coverage by our client in an attempt of plaintiff to piggy back her kidnapping and assault claims against the two other plaintiffs with a claim for uninsured motorist (UM) coverage. The overall issue was whether plaintiff was legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an uninsured or underinsured vehicle because of "bodily injury" sustained by the plaintiff and caused by an "accident," as required for recovery by the Policy. Plaintiff pursued intentional tort claims against two individual defendants for alleged kidnapping and sexual assault that she alleged occurred after she was transported in one of the defendant's allegedly uninsured vehicles. She also pursued uninsured motorist recovery from the defendant insurer pursuant to a policy issued to her parents. At trial, the Court dismissed the kidnapping claim and found that there was an act(s) of independent significance between the use of the vehicle and the alleged harm suffered by the Plaintiff, then a minor. The Court also ruled that the defendant operator of the car could not be liable for the statutory rape of the passenger defendant, thereby precluding any liability on the part of the insurer for the passengers' actions.