Is a mobile gym a vehicle or premise?
A court ruled that a mobile gym operating out of a truck was not an uninsured auto after a woman sued her insurer for benefits.
The Court of Appeals of Florida, fourth district, has ruled that a mobile gym operating out of the back of a truck was not an uninsured auto for the purposes of the automobile insurance policy of a woman who was allegedly injured while training in the mobile gym.
Garrett Nodell owns and operates a mobile gym out of the back of an Isuzu truck. The gym is called Mobile Fitness Centers of America. Nodell drives the truck to his client’s location and conducts workouts in the back of the truck. The gym is equipped with exercise machines and equipment, some of which are bolted to the floor of the truck. To power the gym, Nodell either hooked up to electricity at the home of the client or used a generator.
For years, Nodell trained Natalie Deutsch in the back of the truck while it was parked near her home and plugged into her electricity. During a training session, Deutsch suffered permanent injuries, allegedly due to Nodell’s negligence during the training.
Deutsch sued Nodell and the gym. Both suits were settled. Deutsch also sued her own auto insurer, GEICO, under the premise that the mobile gym was an uninsured auto under her car insurance policy and, therefore, that she was entitled to recover uninsured motorist benefits.
Both parties moved for summary judgment, and the trial court granted the motion for GEICO, holding that the “unambiguous” provisions in the policy excluded coverage for the mobile gym. Deutsch appealed the decision.
On appeal, Deutsch argued that the injuries arose out of the use of the vehicle; however, the issue was not whether the injuries arose out of the use of the vehicle, but whether the injuries arose out of the use of an uninsured auto. Deutsch also argued that the truck did not fit within a cited definition of premises because the truck was not a house, building, or tract of land. While that is true, the GEICO policy excluded coverage for a vehicle being used as premises.
The appellate court affirmed the decision of the trial court, ruling that the mobile gym was not an uninsured auto under the GEICO policy because the vehicle was located for use as a premises. Under the policy, the term “uninsured auto” did not include “a land motor vehicle . . . located for use as a residence or premises . . .”
These three undisputed facts were relevant in the court’s decision to determine that the truck was a premise. There was no brick and mortar office for the gym, the equipment was bolted to the floor, and the gym was powered by the generator or the electricity from the client’s house, facts leading to the conclusion that clients only worked out in the gym when it was stationary, parked, and connected to a power source. Clients were never trained while the gym was being used as a vehicle. The truck was in use as a building, like any other stationary gym in a brick and mortar building.
Accordingly, the appellate court held that the truck was not an uninsured vehicle when Deutsch was injured.
The case is Deutsch v. Geico Gen. Ins. Co., No. 4D18-2714, 2019 Fla. App. LEXIS 1645 (Dist. Ct. App. Oct. 30, 2019).
Editor’s Note: With the growing popularity of mobile vets, gyms, pet groomers, and food trucks, the issue of whether these businesses are covered under auto insurance or business insurance has become more important. In this case, the “uninsured auto” was being used as a stationary gym. The gym was not operating while the truck was moving. The injury did not occur while the truck was being used as a truck, only when the truck was stationary. The truck, when parked, hooked up to electricity, and would then be used as a gym. While being used as a gym, the truck is considered to be being used as a premise. Although this case did have some very specific facts, the important takeaway is that the truck could not have been mobile while functioning as a gym, and in that way, it was being used as a premise instead of a vehicle.
This story is republished from FC&S Expert Coverage Interpretation, the recognized authority on insurance coverage interpretation and analysis for the P&C industry. To find out more, click here.
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