American National Property & Casualty Co. v. Sorensen

2013 UT App 25, 362 P.3d 909, 749 Utah Adv. Rep. 4, 2013 WL 6503310, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 295
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedDecember 12, 2013
DocketNo. 20110221-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2013 UT App 25 (American National Property & Casualty Co. v. Sorensen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American National Property & Casualty Co. v. Sorensen, 2013 UT App 25, 362 P.3d 909, 749 Utah Adv. Rep. 4, 2013 WL 6503310, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 295 (Utah Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

Opinion

CHRISTIANSEN, Judge:

T1 This case involves a dispute over whether a homeowner's insurance policy excludes coverage for an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accident that occurred in a residential subdivision,. - American National Property and Casualty Company (American National) appeals the district court's award of summary judgment in favor of the passenger in the ATV accident, Stephen Dane Olsen. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

T2 The ATV accident giving rise to this action occurred in Highland, Utah on November 17, 2006. Karen Simmons had just purchased the ATV on the date of the accident. Simmons's seventeen-year-old son, Corey Sorensen was driving the new ATV with two passengers, one of whom was Olsen, when it tipped over and landed on Olsen, injuring his leg. ‘

T3 Sorensen was driving the ATV near Simmons's residence in a residential subdivision known as "the Highlands." The Highlands is a "planned unit development" and includes a park located to the east of Simmons's property. 'The park is defined in the Highlands homeowners association's covenants, conditions, and restrictions. (CC & Rs) as a "common area." Specifically, the CC & [911]*911Rs define "common area" as "all the real property and improvements, including without limitation, any recreation facilities, land-seaped areas and private roadways and walkways, which are owned by the Association for the common use and enjoyment of all of the Owners." For purposes of summary judgment only, the parties. agreed that the accident occurred in the Highlands® common area.

T4 At the time of the ATV accident, Simmons's residence was covered by a homeowner's insurance policy issued to her by American National. Simmons's homeowner's policy provided coverage up to the limits of lability for any claim for damages brought against her as an insured because of bodily injuries The policy also covered, medical expenses incurred by others injured "on the insured location" or injured "off the insured location, if the bodily injury ... [was] caused by the activities of any insured." Section II of Simmons's insurance policy also contained the following exelusions:

1. Coverage E-Personal Liability and Coverage F-Medical Payments to Others do not apply to bodily i mgury or property damage ,
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h. - arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use, loading, or unloading of motor vehicles or all other motorized land conveyances, including any trailers, owned or operated by or rented or «loaned to any insured.
This exclusion does not apply to a motorized land conveyance designed for assisting the handicapped or for the maintenance of an insured location ...:
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k. arising out of the entrustment by . any insured to any person any. of the following:
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(8) a motor vehicle or any other motorized land conveyance,
L- arising out of statutorily imposed vi- , carious parental lability for the actions of a child or minor using:
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(3) a motor vehlcle or any other motorized land conveyance ...[2]

Additionally, in subsection 8(c) of the insurance policy definitions, “motorwehicle” is defined, in relevant part, as "a motorized golf cart, snowmobile, or other motorized land vehicle owned by any insured and designed for recreational use off public roads, while off an insured location." (Emphasis added.)

15 In 2007, as a result of the injuries he sustained in the ATV accident, Olsen sued Simmons, Sorensen, and American National in a personal injury action separate from the present action, After Olsen filed the personal injury action, Simmons filed a claim against her homeowner's policy with American National,. Following an investigation into the accident, American National denied Simmons's claim for coverage. Then, in May 2008, American National filed the present action against Sorensen and Simmons and filed an amended complaint in March 2009 adding Olsen as a defendant." American National sought a declaratory judgment that it did not have a duty to defend Simmons and Sorensen and that the insurance policy excluded coverage for Olsen's injuries resulting from the ATV accident.

T6 American National and Olsen filed cross-motions for summary judgment. .In its motion for summary judgment, American National asserted that the insurance policy unambiguously excluded coverage pursuant to the motor vehicle. exelusions contained in the policy because an ATV falls within the policy's definition of a motor vehicle and the bodily injury suffered by Olsen resulted from a motor vehicle accident. In his combined cross-motion for summary judgment and opposition memorandum, Olsen argued that the motor vehicle exclusions did not apply to the ATV accident, because the accident occurred on an "insured location." Thus, Olsen argued that the policy's exclusions were not triggered because the ATV did not fall within [912]*912the policy's definition of a motor vehicle, which only defined an ATV as 'a vehicle "while off an insured location."

T7 The district court denied American National's motion for summary judgment, determining that the injuries suffered by Olsen in the ATV accident were not excluded from coverage.3 The district court concluded that the undisputed material facts

establish that the common area where the accident occurred is an "insured location" under Simmons'[s] homeowner's insurance policy. Even though the vehicle was a motorized land vehicle designed [for] recreational use off public roads, it was operated on an insured location. Coverage is therefore not excluded under the policy.

On (January 27, 2011, the court entered a declaratory judgment denying American National's motion for summary judgment, explaining, in relevant part,

1. The matenal facts pertamlng to the issues raised in the pleadings are undisputed, and based on those facts, the Court concludes that the accident occurred at an "insured location."
2. The insurance policy's exclusions from coverage asserted by the plaintiff do not apply....
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4, Because the accident occurred at an "insured location," the policy of insurance issued by [American National] to ... Simmons provides coverage for the accident in question, and [American National] has a duty to defend Sorensen and Simmons and .to cover losses sustained by them as a result of the accident in question to the extent of the policy limits.

American National appeals.

SSUE AN D STANDARD OF REVIEW

11 8 Amemcan National argues that the district court erred in denying its motion for summary judgment and in ruling that the insurance policy unambiguously provides cov-erage for the ATV accident. "A grant of summary judgment is proper when there are no disputed issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." American Nat'l Fire Ins. Co. v. Farmers Ins. Exch., 927 P.2d 186, 188 (Utah 1996) (citing Utah R. Civ. P. 56(c)).

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2013 UT App 25, 362 P.3d 909, 749 Utah Adv. Rep. 4, 2013 WL 6503310, 2013 Utah App. LEXIS 295, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-national-property-casualty-co-v-sorensen-utahctapp-2013.