Regular Use Exclusion Upheld, Bad Faith Claim Denied In Eastern District Court Case

In the case of Reeves v. The Travelers Company, No. 16-6448 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 30, 2017 Baylson, J.), the court upheld a carrier's regular use exclusion and entered summary judgment on a plaintiff's bad faith claims.

At the time of the accident, the plaintiff was a passenger in a truck owned by his employer while the truck was en route from a work meeting to a work site.

The plaintiff admitted in discovery that he drove or rode in his employer's vehicles on 90 percent of his workdays.  The court rejected the plaintiff's argument that he only used 3 of the employer's 17 vehicles and his argument that his work duties were performed outside of the vehicle.

The court noted that the regular use exclusion has been held to apply to both passengers and drivers.  The court also referenced cases where the regular use exclusion was still applied despite the fact that an employee's work duties were performed outside of a vehicle.

The court additionally found no basis for a bad faith claim after finding that the carrier investigated and denied the claim based upon a reasonable reading of the policy.

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Source:  "Digest of Recent Opinions."  Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Nov. 21, 2017).