A North Carolina appeals court found that a passenger in an automobile who grabbed the steering wheel while the vehicle was in operation was not in legal possession of the car in North Carolina Farm Bureau Ins. Co. v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., No. COA04-348, 2005 WL 350575 (N.C. App. Feb. 15, 2005).

 

Charly Simms was driving a car owned by her mother, Betty, with her friend, Reagan Mason as a passenger. As Charly approached a weigh station, Regan grabbed the wheel and attempted to steer the car into the station. Charly tried to maintain control by steering back to the left, but she struck another car as she swerved. The driver of the other car, Thomas Graves, was killed in the collision.

 

Graves' estate brought a wrongful death action against Reagan, Charly, and Betty. Reagan's insurer, Farm Bureau, and the Simms' insurer, Nationwide, settled the claims against their insureds and brought a declaratory action to determine which insurance was primarily liable.

 

Both carriers agreed that Reagan was not a permissive user of Betty's car. Because North Carolina law requires that a vehicle owner's liability policy must cover those in lawful possession of the vehicle, the issue was whether Reagan was in lawful possession of the vehicle at the time of the accident.

 

Quoting an earlier decision, the court said, “[A] person is in lawful possession of a vehicle…if he is given possession of the automobile by the automobile's owner or owner's permittee under a good faith belief that giving possession of the vehicle to the third party would not be in violation of any law or contractual obligation.”

 

Although Farm Bureau argued that Reagan was in lawful possession of the vehicle, the court pointed out that Reagan was sitting in the passenger's seat as Charly drove. The court said, “We are persuaded by the reasoning of those states which hold that a passenger who grabs the steering wheel is actually interfering with the vehicle's operation.”

 

Thus, the court decided that Reagan was not possession of the vehicle. Even if the court had found Reagan to be in possession of the vehicle, it said that the possession would not have been legal because a reasonable person with common sense would not in good faith believe that she may legally possess a vehicle by suddenly grabbing the wheel while the car is moving. Because Reagan was not in lawful possession of the car, she was not covered by Betty's policy.