Insurer Must Defend Off Premises Golf Cart Accident

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has overturned the lower courts ruling and decided that an insurer must defend a horse farm and equestrian center in a golf cart accident. The case is Am. Bankers Ins. Co. v. Shockley, No. 20-1938, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 19107 (7th Cir. June 28, 2021).

St. Charles Farms (SCF), an Illinois-based horse farm and equestrian center, was in the business of maintaining, training, and boarding horses, and providing riding lessons. SFC was insured under a farmowners policy by American Bankers Insurance Co., an Assurant Inc. unit. The policy provided supplemental coverage for bodily injury arising out of a  motorized vehicle designed only for use off of public roads, which is used to service the insured premises. Exclusion six in the policy clarifies that there is no coverage for bodily injury or property damage arising from use of a motorized vehicle except as provided by the supplemental coverage referenced above.