Curtis Harlan died as a result of the injuries he suffered while he was working for RA Knapp Construction as a member of a highway construction crew in August 2012.  Plaintiffs, Mr. Harlan’s parents, brought suit against United Fire & Casualty Company claiming they were entitled to $2,000,000.00 in Underinsured Motorist benefits under the RA Knapp Construction Commercial Auto Policy issued by United Fire.  At the time of the fatal accident, Mr. Harlan was operating a Georgia Buggy while working on a 1-470 construction project.  Mr. Harlan reversed the Georgia Buggy into an open lane of highway traffic when he was hit by an oncoming vehicle and died.  Plaintiffs claimed that Mr. Harlan was an insured under the United Fire Commercial Auto Policy and that they were entitled to $2,000,000.00 in underinsured motorist benefits. 
 
In order to be an “insured” as defined by the United Fire policy, Mr. Harlan was required to be operating an “auto” at the time of the accident.  United Fire argued that summary judgment was appropriate as the Georgia Buggy was a piece of “mobile equipment”, not an “auto”, as defined by the United Fire policy and therefore Curtis Harlan was not an insured and Plaintiffs were not entitled to underinsured motorist benefits.  Plaintiffs aggressively argued that the Georgia Buggy was in fact an “auto” based on its use and the fact that Curtis Harlan was operating the Georgia Buggy on a public highway at the time of the accident.   The Court agreed with United Fire’s analysis and granted summary judgment in favor of United Fire.   Heather Hatley prepared the summary judgment briefing on behalf of United Fire.