Court Rules Insurance Company Must Cover Golf Cart Crash

We have an unusual story today that shows some of the tricks that insurance companies use to get out of paying for claims. Fortunately for the injured person, the company lost their case on appeal. BusinessInsurance.com reports.

The case involved an insurance company in Miami, Assurant, and a horse farm in St. Charles, Illinois. The horse farm had a policy to cover their farm, which maintained, trained, and boarded horses.

In November 2016, an employee of the farm transported horses, equipment, and a golf cart from the farm to Barrington Hills Riding Center, about 15 miles away from the farm.

During their duties, the employee drove the golf cart with the defendant in the case. They were chasing after a horse and drove onto a grass field on uneven ground. The golf cart bumped the defendant out of the cart, and the employee ran over his leg.

The injured man filed a lawsuit over the incident and the insurer tried to claim they had no duty to defend in the lawsuit, which means they were washing their hands of the situation. They believed the policy did not cover this situation.

However, a three-judge appeals court overturned a lower court decision and held that the insurer had to help the farm defend themselves. The judges agreed that the policy was ambiguous, but qualified as a commercial general liability policy, rather than a farm policy. This means that the supplemental motorized vehicle coverage in the policy could be claimed.