DeFeyter—you know, the only Dutch boxer to win the championship in the last several decades—came into the office the other day. It seems that he had been in a motor vehicle accident and wanted to know if I could get him a million dollars. When I asked him what happened, he proceeded to spin a tale of woe that would make a tax auditor weep.
It seems that he and one of his agricultural pals (and I use the word “agriculture” in its weediest sense) were off-roading in the pal’s Monster Truck. DeFeyter spotted a freshly dead possum by the side of the roadway in front of the beginning of the ORV trail.
Being good stewards of the environment, they wanted to recycle the critter. DeFeyter got out of the truck and was in the process of retrieving the candidate for their pot au feu, when his buddy let a foot slip off the clutch of Monster.
Needless to say, Monster lurched forward. A chrome doo-dad that was part of the gaudy decoration which festooned the truck swiped DeFeyter in the keyster and left a gash in his favorite Carharts (not to mention both of his favorite cheeks).
I asked DeFeyter if his pal had car insurance.
“I think so,” he replied.
Then I asked about an ORV rider.
“No rider,” DeFeyter answered. “Just me, and I was out of the truck.”
I explained that a rider was special coverage for out-of-the-ordinary circumstances in the insurance world. “Dunno,” was DeFeyter’s response.
Was the truck on the road, the shoulder of the road or the ORV trail, I asked. He told me it was “mostly” on the ORV trail.
I had to break the bad news to him that the truck might not have been a motor vehicle, in that case.
He was astounded.
How could it be a truck and not a truck, he asked.
Reasonable question, I replied.
Under the law, if it was within the boundry of the roadway it was a motor vehicle. If it was on the ORV trail, then it was not a motor vehicle for insurance purposes.
DeFeyter bemoaned the fact that his buddy might not have insurance coverage and swore that he could never sue him personally.
Well, I told him, find out about the ORV coverage.
And anyways, I offered, you still got a good stew out of the deal.
Loculus
