In American Sentinel Insurance Company v. National Fire & Marine Insurance Company, No. 23-55175 (9th Cir. Feb. 12, 2024), the 9th Circuit reviewed de novo the trial court’s granting Plaintiff American Sentinel’s motion for summary judgment and denying National Fire’s cross-motion for judgment on the pleadings. The Court concluded that Big Brother Transportation, Inc. fell within the definition of “insured” in National’s insurance policy for Tengfei Trucking, Inc.
The National Policy defined “insured” to include “[t]he owner or anyone else from whom you hire or borrow a covered ‘auto’ that is a ‘trailer’ while the ‘trailer’ is connected to another covered ‘auto’ that is a power unit.” According to the 9th Circuit, “[a] layperson would understand that definition to mean that a trailer owner is an ‘insured’ if it (1) leases or lends a, (2) covered, (3) trailer, (4) to a National policyholder, (5) while that trailer is connected to a covered, (6) tractor.” It was undisputed that Tengfei attached Big Brother’s trailer to Tengfei’s 2015 Volvo tractor, a covered auto under the National Policy. Accordingly, when Tengfei attached Big Brother’s trailer to Tengfei’s covered tractor, the trailer became a covered auto because it was a trailer that Tengfei did not own but attached to a covered tractor. Thus, while Big Brother’s trailer was connected to Tengfei’s tractor, Big Brother was an “insured” under the National Policy.
The Court also determined that the “Truckers Exception” also did not apply. That exclusion applies only where Tengfei would loan or lease an auto that it owns to a trucker. Here, instead, Tengfei leased a trailer from Big Brother. Thus, the Court held that the Truckers Exception does not apply.