Our office handles many cases for police officers who are injured in motor vehicle accidents.  As such, a recent court decision caught our attention.

The Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled in March that a Police Officer could not make a claim for injuries sustained during an arrest.  This officer was injured during an arrest of a suspect for OUI.  During the arrest, the suspect resisted, causing the officer to injur his shoulder (2 surgeries were later required).  The officer made claims against two insurance policies - the suspect's, and the officer's own auto policy.  The Court ruled that although the injury arguably arose out of the use of the suspects car, the intervening act of resisting arrest broke the chain of causation, and allowed all insurers to deny coverage.

The lesson learned here is that it is important to review your insurance and disability coverage.  Insurance Companies often go to court and fight to deny claims for technical reasons.  For police officers, this situation can cause real problems.  For example, if the Town denies injured-on-duty benefits (i.e. they may claim pre-existing injury, not work-related, etc.), and the insurance companies deny coverage, the officer can be left out of work with no income.  We have recently seen cases where the officer's disability insurance company takes the position, opposite of the Town's, that the injury was work related, and also denies coverage.

Check to make sure any disability coverage you may have purchased covers injuries occuring both on and off the job.  Review your personal auto insurance policy with your agent to confirm that you have sufficient underinsured and uninsured motorist coverage.  The full Court decision can be viewed by clicking the link below.