Court Opinion

ID: 9541617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:27:09.375674+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:04:09.534287
License: Public Domain

Justice WALTERS,
concurring in Chief Justice TROUT’S dissent and writing specially.
I agree with Chief Justice Trout’s analysis in this case and particularly concur in her determination that — contrary to the conclusion asserted by the majority — the insurance policy in question does not require that a person both use the vehicle and be responsible for its use before coverage attaches. The majority reaches its conclusion as an adjunct to finding that the policy is illusory. I disagree with that approach and suggest, instead, that it would be more reasonable to uphold the validity of the policy. Accordingly, I would construe the policy to afford coverage.
An authorized person obviously can “use” an automobile by riding in it, without independently also being “responsible” for the vehicle’s use. Such a person should be afforded coverage under the terms of the policy as well as someone who may have a right to coverage flowing from that person’s responsibility for the use of the vehicle. Common examples of such users who might be transported in a city-owned police vehicle might be prisoners, juvenile detainees, and persons committed to mental facilities and who are being transported to detention destinations; persons who might be transported to medical facilities in emergency situations; nonemployee passengers, such as family members, who are not covered by worker’s compensation; city-sponsored senior citizen transportation programs; the user of a city vehicle by loan from the city where the user is not an employee of the city; nonemployee passengers who are allowed to ride with city officials on business trips to attend conferences; the use of the city vehicle in a parade by a nonemployee; a repairman road-testing the vehicle, as a passenger, after working on the vehicle; the use of a vehicle commandeered by a state patrolman as a passenger; ride-along programs for Boy Scouts or high school students learning about law enforcement activities; and hitch-hikers who have-been given a ride by an authorized operator of the vehicle.
These examples demonstrate the purpose behind the coverage provision of the policy. The policy affords coverage to people who might be injured in an accident with an uninsured motorist, while riding in a city vehicle and without being “responsible” for *255use of the city vehicle. The additional exclusion for employees, who are limited to the worker’s compensation law in their claims against the city, is reasonable and not illusory. There should not be coverage under the policy for Martinez, who was injured by an uninsured motorist, while Martinez was acting in the course of his employment as a city patrolman.