Shan Thompson, Jimmy Boone and LaToya Jeter of Copeland Cook Taylor & Bush’s Insurance Defense section successfully represented Bituminous Casualty Corporation, the Appellee, in the lawsuit Bituminous Casualty Corporation v. Doris Buckley, No. 09-60172 (5th Cir. (Miss.), 2009). The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a summary judgment by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.
The case involved an insurance coverage dispute relating to claims arising out of the use of a company vehicle by an unauthorized employee and whether the employee was in the course and scope of his employment while using the vehicle. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the employee`s lack of express or implied permission to drive the company vehicle precluded coverage under his employer`s automobile liability policy. The court further held that Mississippi has not adopted an "emergency exception" to the permissive use law, and if it had, application of such an exception was not warranted. The court also held that the unauthorized employee was not in the course and scope of his employment because his use of the vehicle to drive home from work was not in furtherance of the employer`s business. Therefore, there was no coverage under the employer`s automobile umbrella policy.