An insurer is not liable for failing to more thoroughly investigate the background of a taxicab driver involved in a fatal accident, a federal appeals courts said Friday, in affirming a lower court ruling.

Mohamed Diriye was drunk when he drove a taxi off a Des Moines, Iowa, road and crashed into a creek, killing one passenger and injuring another, Brian Foster, according to the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis in Brian Foster v. Integrity Mutual Insurance Co.

Des Moines-based United Cab Ltd. had submitted an insurance application to Appleton, Wisconsin-based Integrity and, as part of that process, Integrity received the company’s drivers’ motor vehicle records, according to the ruling.

Mr. Diriye’s motor vehicle record showed he had a valid Iowa chauffeur driver’s license, no restrictions on his license and one minor speeding offense, but flagged the inquiry as a possible “mismatch, please review to verify.”  Integrity reviewed the records and issued United Cab a business and commercial liability policy.

The records, though, did not show Mr. Diriye’s 2012 driving while impaired conviction in Minnesota, which would have made him ineligible to drive a cab under a Des Moines ordinance. 

After the incident, Integrity split the full policy limit between Mr. Foster and the other passenger’s estate. Mr. Foster, who reserved his right to sue, filed suit against Integrity charging negligence.

The U.S. district court in Des Moines granted the insurer’s motion for summary judgment, which was affirmed by a unanimous three-judge appeals court panel.

“We assume, without deciding, that Integrity could have discovered Dioriye’s 2012 Minnesota DWI, even though the Iowa Dept. of Transportation issued a chauffer’s license in 2015 and did not show the DWI” in its motor vehicle records, the ruling said.

But not informing the cab company of a driving violation was an omission, not a “sin of commission,” the ruling said.

“Because Foster cannot show that the insurer increased his risk or that he or the taxi company relied on the insurer’s background checks, we find that Integrity did not undertake a duty to United Cab’s passengers,” it said.

“Even if Integrity negligently missed an out-of-state offense, it is not liable to Foster as matter of law,” the ruling said, in affirming the lower court.

Attorneys in the case did not respond to requests for comment.