William Walton, a truck driver employed by Crowley Foods, Inc. was injured while delivering dairy products to a supermarket in New York. After backing the tractor-trailer up to the loading dock, he opened the rear door. The supermarket had a "levelator" to facilitate delivery. Walton secured the control device from the supermarket, raised the levelator to the same height as the truck bed and attached plates connecting the levelator to the truck, thus creating a ramp. While he was standing on the ramp, the levelator tipped over, throwing him to the ground and causing injuries.

Walton filed a claim for no-fault benefits with his employer's insurance carrier, Lumbermens. The claim was denied. He then filed suit, and the trial court dismissed the action on the ground that his injuries were not caused by the insured motor vehicle but by the levelator. Walton appealed.

Walton contended that he was entitled to benefits since he was injured while he was unloading the insured vehicle and thus he was using the vehicle within the meaning of the New York no-fault provisions. Lumbermens contended that his injuries were caused by the failure of the levelator and did not arise out of the use of the insured truck. It was noted that the no-fault statute provides that benefits are available only if the injury sustained arose out of the use or operation of the motor vehicle.

In affirming the judgment of the trial court in favor of Lumbermens, the court pointed out that the vehicle must be a proximate cause of the injury before the statute applies. The court noted that a person engaged in loading or unloading the vehicle might be using it within the meaning of the statute, "but that does not necessarily mean that his or her injuries arose out of the use of the vehicle. In such circumstances, if the injuries are caused by something other than the vehicle itself, the injuries cannot be said to have arisen out of the use of the vehicle and thus no-fault first-party benefits are unavailable to the injured party."

The judgment entered in the trial court in favor of Lumbermens was affirmed.

William M. Walton, Appellant, v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company--Court of Appeals of New York--June 5, 1996--666 North Eastern Reporter 2d 1046.