Opinion ID: 746833
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: You [the named insured]

Text: 29 b. Anyone else while using with your permission a covered auto you [the named insured] own, hire or borrow.... 30 c. Anyone else who is not otherwise excluded under paragraph b above and is liable for the conduct of an insured. 31 The policy lists only Morrison and Target--not plaintiff--as named insureds under paragraph (a), and there is no claim that plaintiff falls within paragraphs (b) and (c). Coverage, accordingly, depends upon whether plaintiff can show that she was using the rental car at the time of the accident. Courts examining similar policy terms have adopted various definitions of using a motor vehicle. See generally 7 Am.Jur.2d Automobile Insurance § 129 (1980 & Supp. Apr. 1997) (collecting cases). We need not decide which definition the Vermont Supreme Court would adopt, however, for even under the most liberal definition of using a motor vehicle, plaintiff's trip across the street for a cup of coffee would not qualify. 32 Our analysis is not altered by the fact that the plaintiff requested liability coverage from her rental car company. Plaintiff cites Moon v. Guarantee Ins. Co., 764 P.2d at 1335-36, for the proposition that a rental car customer who requests liability insurance from a rental car company must be considered the named insured under a liability policy issued to that rental car company. Plaintiff reasons that the rental contract is a policy of insurance, and that the plaintiff, as the named insured thereunder, must be afforded UIM coverage. Under plaintiff's analysis, her status as a named insured under the rental contract requires us to look to the policy behind 23 V.S.A. § 941(a) and deem her a named insured under the contract between Liberty and Morrison, even though that contract's terms excludes her from coverage. Relying on similar reasoning, the district court held that Liberty was required to provide coverage. 33 We are not persuaded by this analysis. First, we doubt that the rule in Moon can be squared with the principles underlying the Vermont Supreme Court's decision in Norman v. King. In Norman, the Court held that Vermont's UIM statute requires UIM coverage only for persons insured under the terms of the liability policy. 659 A.2d at 1125. The plaintiff's proposed rule, which asks us to require coverage for renters even when they are not within the liability policy's definition of insured, conflicts with this principle. 34 Even if plaintiff were correct that a rental contract could be considered a liability policy for purposes of § 941(a), a question on which we express no opinion, the plaintiff must look to the issuer of that policy--the rental car company--for recovery. We see no basis in the insurance policy or in the language of or public policy behind § 941(a) upon which to require Liberty to answer for the rental car company's gratuitous promises. 35 Because plaintiff cannot show that she is an insured under the liability policy, the UIM statute affords her no protection. Because plaintiff is not covered under the terms of the UIM policy and, as a person not insured under the liability policy, cannot turn to the UIM statute for help, the defendant is entitled to summary judgment in its favor.