Riding In Vehicle Is Not “Use”

A passenger riding in a car that collided with another vehicle, killing the driver, was not covered by the passenger’s auto policy, the Indiana Court of Appeals held in Estate of Sullivan v. Allstate Ins. Co., 841 N.E.2d 1220 (February 10, 2006). The passenger would have been covered by his auto policy’s “non-owned auto” provisions for third-party liabilities only if he was engaged in use of the car. The court said that “use,” although not defined in the policy, connoted directing or propelling the car, not merely occupying it as a rider.