When will an insurance policy require an insurer to assume liability for someone who is injured before the policy expires?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Mullins v. Mayflower Ins. Co., 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 635, 9 Cal.App.4th 416 (Cal. App. 1992):

When interpreting the terms of an insurance policy, the courts will not indulge in any forced construction in order to fasten liability upon an [9 Cal.App.4th 421] insurer which it has not assumed. (Lasam v. Interinsurance Exchange (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 508, 511, 280 Cal.Rptr. 214.) Appellant's test of allowing recovery to anyone who was injured before the person arrived safely at his or her destination strains both any reasonable interpretation of the definition of "occupying" in the policy and existing legal precedent in uninsured and underinsured motorist cases. We cannot rewrite the insurance policy to bind the insurer to a risk that it did not contemplate and for which no premiums were paid.

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