The
SD Supreme Court handed down one decision this morning:
Liability insurer’s “Vehicle Used for a Fee” exclusion
defeats coverage
Summary
follows:
WESTERN
AGRICULTURAL INS. CO. v. ARBAB-AZZEIN, 2020 S.D. 12: Passenger in 15 passenger
van was seriously injured in roll-over accident. Passenger brought claim against Driver who
was a co-worker. Driver regularly drove
passenger and other c0-workers to work, typically driving 10-15 passengers
daily. Passengers paid driver $40
weekly. Driver’s liability insurer
denied coverage based upon exclusion:
“Vehicle Used for a Fee. There
is no coverage while any vehicle is being used to carry people for a fee. This
exclusion does not apply to a shared-expenses car pool.”
Following
2 day bench trial, the lower court ruled in favor of liability insurer. The SD Supreme Court affirmed, stating in ¶
26:
[T]he evidence and circuit
court’s findings objectively show that [Driver] was earning a sizable profit
from the flat fees paid by his riders, rather than sharing expenses.
This
decision unanimous (5-0), with opinion authored by Justice Jensen.
This
decision may be accessed at
