Buyer with Control of Vehicle Deemed Owner for Insurance Purposes

In Fairmont Specialty v. Estate of Hoohuli, 2009 WL 2252236 (D.Hawaii), defendant Tessie Kotrys signed a contract with South Bay Auto to purchase a used vehicle. She signed a credit contract to finance the purchase through a third party and was given possession of the vehicle. Before Kotrys' financing for the vehicle was approved, she crashed the vehicle in a single-car accident, sustaining injuries and killing her passenger, Hoohuli. Kotrys and the Estate of Hoohuli asserted that South Bay Auto owned the vehicle at the time of the accident such that the vehicle was insured by South Bay Auto's garage policy, provided by plaintiff Fairmont Specialty.

The Hawaii district court examined the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on Kotrys' claim for liability insurance coverage, plaintiff's motion for summary judgment on defendants' claims for UM/UIM and PIP coverage, and the Estate of Hoohuli's motion for summary judgment on all claims.