Section 5.3 We will pay on behalf of an insured . . .

• Library: Insurance Practice 2015

Section 303.190, RSMo 2000, of the Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law (MVFRL) requires that a conforming policy “designate by explicit description or by appropriate reference all motor vehicles with respect to which coverage is thereby to be granted” and that it “insure the person named therein and any other person . . . using any such motor vehicle or motor vehicles with the express or implied permission of such named insured . . . .” That seems to mean that only the operation of the described auto by insureds designated in the policy and permissive users of it must be covered. But because the personal auto policy is the means by which virtually everyone complies with the requirement of the MVFRL, insurers typically include coverage for some insureds in non-owned (and only generally described) autos so as to assist the insured in meeting the requirements of § 303.025, RSMo Supp. 2003. That section forbids the operation of a vehicle unless an owner’s policy or an operator’s policy applies to such operation.

To make sure that the requirements of both sections are met, the Shelter policy provides:

As used in this Part, Insured means:

(1) With respect to the described auto,

(a) You,

(b) Your relatives,

(c) Any other person using the auto if its use is within the scope of your permission, and

(d) Any other person or organization liable for the use of the auto by one of the above persons.

(2) With respect to a non-owned auto,

(a) You and your relatives, provided the actual use or operation is with the permission, or reasonably believed to be with the permission of the owner or person in lawful possession, and within the scope of such permission, and

(b) Any other person or organization which does not own or hire the auto but is liable for its use by one of the above persons.

Historically, the person who bought the policy and made the application for it was called the “named insured.” That person’s spouse was often called the same in the traditional auto policy vernacular. In the advent of the “easy read” policy, those people have typically become just “you.” This is the primary class of insureds and, as might be expected, those in that class get all the broadest benefits under the policy language. These people are usually identified quite easily because one or both of their names are on the policy’s declarations.

Status as a “relative” is quite important also because relatives are typically afforded coverage much like that afforded the named insured. Such things as coverage in non-owned autos and the absence of a permission requirement for coverage in the described auto are among the benefits they enjoy. For that reason, most, but not all, personal auto policies carefully define some variation of this word. In Devine v. Gateway Insurance Co.,60 S.W.3d 6 (Mo. App. E.D. 2001), the court held that the undefined word “relative” requires the existence of a relationship based on consanguinity (blood) or affinity (marriage). The Shelter policy defines it as follows:

Relative means a person related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption and who is a resident of and actually living in your household, provided neither the relative nor the relative’s spouse owns, in whole or in part, an auto. Relative includes your unmarried and unemancipated child away at school who is a resident of your household.

A child of divorced parents can be a resident of both households...