In a motor vehicle accident involving a rental vehicle, the rental company sought to shift liability to the driver's insurer under the priority rules in s.277 of the Insurance Act.
The issue was whether the driver qualified as an insured under his mother’s policy with the third-party insurer.
The court held that the policy only extended rental vehicle coverage to the named insured and her spouse, and the driver was not a named insured under the certificate of insurance.
Even if the driver were an unnamed insured under other parts of the policy, the statutory priority provisions applied only to a person "insured named in the contract." The third-party claim against the insurer was therefore dismissed.
