The insured died while in his vehicle due to a suicide, in which he poured gasoline in his vehicle and set it on fire using the car’s cigarette lighter and a doused dishtowel. The claimant (the insured’s wife) sought death benefits and funeral benefits. Adjudicator Farlam held that the death was not a result of an “accident”, so no accident benefits were payable. The smoke inhalation and fire could not be considered “use or operation” of a vehicle. Rather, the vehicle was simply the venue of the death. Furthermore, she held that a suicide was an aberrant use of a vehicle, not the “ordinary and well-known activities to which automobile are put.” Finally, the adjudicator held that the act of intentionally starting a fire was an intervening act that broke the chain of causation.
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