The claimant slipped and fell in the process of getting into his vehicle at a gas station. The insurer argued that the incident did not qualify as an accident. Adjudicator Makhamra concluded that the incident qualified as an accident. The claimant was just next to his driver’s door and was reaching out with his left hand when he slipped on ice. The adjudicator held that the act of entering a vehicle was an ordinary use of a vehicle, and therefore met the purpose test. She also considered the but-for principle, intervening act, and dominant feature principle and held that the vehicle was the direct cause of the injuries. The claimant would not have been injured but for being in the process of re-entering his vehicle; the incident was one continuous chain of events with no intervening acts; and the dominant cause of the injuries was the claimant’s attempt to get into his vehicle.
