Davis v. Preferred Risk Mutual Insurance

This appeal requires us to decide whether insurance coverage exists for an injury caused by a blow struck by an object propelled by the wheels of an automobile. The applicable policy language provides medical payments coverage for injuries “caused by accident . . . (c) through being struck by an automobile or by a trailer of any type.”

The facts are stipulated. On February 11, 1983, in South Boston, Virginia, Phil Rex Davis (Davis) responded to the request of a neighbor, Billy Dyer, to help extricate Dyer’s wife’s car from deep snow. Davis, standing in the snow behind the car, attempted to…