Opinion ID: 888572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Great Divide's Corporate Coverage

Text: ¶ 12 Lee argues that the Great Divide corporate policy should extend coverage to him personally because of ambiguities in the policy. Lee contends he has individual coverage under this policy based upon a general reference to you as used in the section of Who is an insured under the policy's explanation of liability coverage. He argues that ambiguous references to insured and you in the Great Divide policy should be determined to expand coverage to any person affiliated with a corporation such as owners, officers, and directors of which Lee is the sole type. Lee also argues that Great Divide provides portable coverage for accidents which involve any vehicle occupied by an insured. ¶ 13 Great Divide responds that no such ambiguity exists and Montana case law interpreting corporate policies has not been expanded to cover individual officers, directors, shareholders or employees of a corporation unless insureds are injured while occupying a covered corporate vehicle. Great Divide notes that when Lee obtained coverage he choose to limit coverage to specifically described vehicles. Great Divide argues that a determination interpreting this policy to cover individual insureds in any vehicle is contrary to the express terms of the policy which identify it as a corporate policy for certain identified vehicles. ¶ 14 The determination of who is the insured under a business automobile policy issued to a corporation is the beginning point of our analysis. The District Court addressed the coverage issue by first determining to what extent Great Divide provided coverage. Under the Great Divide policy, a corporate insured can agree to insure its vehicles in one of nine ways. Of the nine separate covered vehicle options available, Lee elected to insure only specifically described `autos.' The policy defined specifically described `autos' as those listed autos in the covered autos section of the Commercial Auto Policy Declarations for which a premium charge is shown. Because the 2000 Ford truck involved in this accident which injured Lee was not listed under the Great Divide policy nor considered a substitute vehicle per the policy, the District Court determined he was not driving a covered auto at the time of the accident. He did not elect to cover the truck under any part of the Great Divide policy; instead, he only purchased the American States policy to cover that vehicle. ¶ 15 The District Court relied on Lierboe v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2003 MT 174, 316 Mont. 382, 73 P.3d 800, and Chilberg v. Rose, 273 Mont. 414, 903 P.2d 1377 (1995), to reject expansion of coverage under the business auto policy to any person associated with a corporation who was driving a vehicle not listed on the policy and injured by an uninsured motorist. The Chilberg case supports limiting coverage to the reasonable expectations of insureds occupying vehicles listed in the policy at the time of the accident. Chilberg, 273 Mont. at 418, 903 P.2d at 1380. Similarly, in Lierboe, denial of coverage was upheld where an injured passenger was in a vehicle that was not identified in the corporate policy. Lierboe, at ¶ 23. ¶ 16 Here the definition of you throughout the policy is the named insured, the corporation. Further, the policy is identified as a corporate policy. The applicable policy provisions limit coverage to the corporation and to anyone else occupying a covered auto or temporary substitute for a covered auto. We have not expanded coverage to injured persons involved in the corporation who are not occupying vehicles covered under the policy at the time of the accident. See Lierboe and Chilberg. Accordingly, the District Court correctly determined that no coverage existed under the Great Divide policy.