S.C.L. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (16-001683)

The claimant was struck by a golf cart while on the driveway of a private golf course. The insurer denied that an “accident” had occurred because the golf cart did not qualify as an “automobile”. Adjudicator Sewrattan agreed with the insurer and concluded that the golf cart was not an “automobile” because it was not a motor vehicle required to be insured under the Highway Traffic Act or Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act. The adjudicator noted that the driveway on which the incident had occurred was not a common and public driveway; had it been a common and public driveway, the result may have been different.