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In my opinion, both personally and professionally as someone who deals in high risk casualty insurance (which would include this kind of claim), I think that the court has it right. The cops may have terminated the chase, but unless the pursuee had a police scanner in his car, he had no way of knowing that. 20-30 seconds is not enough time to come to the conclusion that the chase has ended and you can slow down. The police were the proximate cause of the chase, and although the pursuee certainly has a considerable share of the liability here, the police also have their own share. That's called contributory negligence, and in cases like this, someone has to pay the injured parties. It's too bad that the guy who ran from the cops wasn't a millionaire or insured up the wazoo, but the court had to look for the deep pockets to make sure that the injured parties aren't going to be destitute.
There are lots of times where someone does nothing wrong and their insurance company ends up paying for someone else's mistakes. It's the American Way.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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