Personal Injury Protection or PIP is insurance that can be purchased with auto insurance . It is unique in its coverage.
One Texas court has construed “motor vehicle accident” narrowly in the context of PIP coverage. Specifically, it held that “motor vehicle accident” does not include all accidents that occur in a motor vehicle.
In the 1996, Houston Court of Appeals [1st Dist.] opinion styled, Schulz v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., Schulz’s passenger ordered him out of the truck and fatally shot him. The appeals court upheld summary judgment in favor of State Farm, which had denied coverage because PIP benefits provide for payment of damages as a result of “a motor vehicle accident.” According to the court a motor vehicle accident does not include all accidents that occur in a motor vehicle. Because there was no casual relationship between the vehicle and the victim’s death, there was no “motor vehicle accident.” Therefore, Schulz was not entitled to recover PIP benefits simply because a covered vehicle may have been used in his demise.