Opinion ID: 1954091
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: [¶ 2] The facts are not disputed. On December 25, 2002, Jason Pease, a detective sergeant in the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office, was at home off-duty when he was dispatched to a reported disturbance at a home in Jefferson. Pease drove his unmarked patrol vehicle to the scene. Upon arrival, Pease got out of his vehicle, leaving the engine running. He approached Michael Montagna, the individual causing the disturbance. Montagna told Pease that he had been drugged and that people were out to get him. At some point during the encounter, Montagna ran away and got into the driver's seat of Pease's vehicle. Pease tried to pull Montagna out of the vehicle, but was knocked down by the car door as Montagna drove in reverse. Montagna then drove over Pease's leg and dragged him for about fifty feet. Pease sustained severe injuries to his knee and suffered lacerations and contusions to other parts of his body. [¶ 3] Montagna has few resources, and Pease is unable to recover under Montagna's State Farm policy because we determined in an earlier case that Montagna's policy does not cover his unlawful possession of Pease's patrol vehicle. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Montagna, 2005 ME 68, 874 A.2d 406. Ordinarily, Pease would then look to the uninsured or underinsured provisions of the policy covering the car he was driving. [2] That car was owned and insured by Lincoln County. The County, however, chose not to carry UM coverage for its employees injured on the job. Thus, Pease sought insurance coverage for his injuries through the UM coverage of his personal insurance policy issued by State Farm. [¶ 4] State Farm's UM coverage policy loosely tracks the language of the uninsured motorist statute, [3] 24-A M.R.S. § 2902 (2005), and also contains some exclusions to UM coverage. The UM policy provisions read, in part: We will pay damages for bodily injury an insured is legally entitled to collect from the owner or driver of an uninsured motor vehicle. The bodily injury must be sustained by an insured and caused by accident arising out of the operation, maintenance or use of an uninsured motor vehicle. . . . . An uninsured motor vehicle does not include a land motor vehicle: 1. insured under the liability coverage of this policy; 2. furnished for the regular use of you, your spouse or any relative; 3. owned or operated by a self-insurer under any motor vehicle financial responsibility law, a motor carrier law or any similar law; 4. owned by any government or any of its political subdivisions or agencies; [4] 5. designed for use mainly off public roads except while on public roads; or 6. while located for use as premises. (Last emphasis added.) Applied to Pease, State Farm's regular use exclusion prevents Pease from recovering for injuries he sustained when struck by a vehicle furnished for his regular use. State Farm maintains that this exception applies even though Montagna stole and unlawfully operated Pease's patrol vehicle. [¶ 5] Pease filed a complaint against State Farm in Superior Court, arguing that he was entitled to coverage under his UM policy. State Farm filed a motion for a summary judgment, which the Superior Court granted. The Superior Court determined that the regular use exclusion is valid because it comports with the intent of Maine's uninsured motorist statute to compel insurers to, ` for a premium, compensate otherwise uninsured injuries.' The court further explained: For State Farm to extend coverage to a patrol car owned by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department and used regularly by [Pease] for both private and law enforcement purposes, it would be assuming a large, and uncompensated risk. Such risk is properly assumed by the Sheriff Department's insurance carrier. Pease filed this appeal.