Tractor is Considered a Motor Vehicle When Acting Like a "Motor Vehicle"
January 22, 2018
The Colorado Court of Appeals, Division One determined that an uninsured motorist provision provided coverage to an insured for bodily injury that was sustained in a car accident with a farm tractor because, based on plain meaning, a tractor is a "motor vehicle" under the uninsured motorist provision. The case is Smith v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 2017 COA 6, 399 P.3d 771.
Robert Bunker was driving down a country road in a tractor when he collided with a truck drove by Neill Smith. There were hay spears attached to the tractor that impaled Smith, leaving him seriously injured. Bunker plead guilty to careless driving. Smith settled his claim against Bunker for the liability policy limits on Bunkers personal auto policy. The amount recovered failed to fully compensate Smith for his injuries so Smith sought uninsured motorists benefits under the automobile insurance policy he obtained from State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. State Farm took the position that a tractor was not a covered motor vehicle for purposes of the uninsured motorists coverage policy, so Smith was not technically injured by an underinsured motorist, and denied coverage. Smith sued State Farm. The district court agreed with State Farm and dismissed the claim.
On appeal Smith argued that the policy's definition of "uninsured motorist" clearly applied only to the property damage coverage. The court cited case law and a dictionary definition to conclude that Bunker's tractor was a motor vehicle for the purpose of Smith's coverage. The policy did not contain a definition of "motor vehicle" that agreed with the plain meaning of the term, so the court held that the term "motor vehicle" was ambiguous and, therefore, the tractor was covered under the policy's uninsured motorist provision. Judgment of the district court was reversed and the case was remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
Editor's Note: The court conceded that a farm tractor was "not primarily used for street driving," but pointed out that the dictionary definition of motor vehicle was not limited to a vehicle's "primary" use. In this case the tractor was driving on a public road, in such it was acting as a "motor vehicle" and should be held to the same uninsured motorists standards as a more conventional "motor vehicle".