Opinion ID: 146624
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Foreseeable Use

Text: Notwithstanding that it would not guarantee their success on any remand, the Kings urge the Court to adopt an approach described in Utica Mutual Insurance Co. v. Fontneau, 70 Mass.App.Ct. 553, 875 N.E.2d 508 (2007), which observed, as a general matter, that [t]o determine whether a site is covered by reason of its use in connection with the specifically insured residential premises, courts will examine (1) the character of the use as a residentially related activity; (2) the distance between the residence and the site; and (3) the resulting reasonable foreseeability of the risk of the connected activity on the site to the insurer. 70 Mass.App. Ct. at 559, 875 N.E.2d at 514. There is a dearth of Connecticut authority lending support to a Fontneau -style approach. The Kings, nevertheless, maintain that Fontneau supports coverage of Junior's ATV accident because it occurred as a result of his operation of the ATV on Midwood Road (which, by its nature as the development's private road, was residentially related by definition), only 20 yards away from the border of the their residence premises. The proximity and private nature of the roadway used as of right by the Kings, taken together, they argue, made the risk of the accident occurring where it occurred reasonably foreseeable to Royal. Royal counters that, in Fontneau, the insured and his employees regularly used the premises on which that ATV accident occurred, whereas the Kings cannot say they did. Nonetheless, this approach too can meander to coverage of Conor's injuries if Connecticut were to adopt it in determining the meaning of premises used in connection with the residence premises.