Allstate Ins. Co. v. Moraca

In Allstate Ins. Co. v. Moraca, 244 N.J.Super. 5, 8, 581 A.2d 510 (App.Div.1990), a homeowners' policy excluded coverage for "bodily injury or property damages arising out of the ownership, maintenance, use, occupancy, renting, loaning, entrusting, loading or unloading of any motorized land vehicle or trailer." The Court held that an automobile exclusion in a homeowner's policy excluded coverage for negligent entrustment claims where the insured had permitted her son to use her vehicle. Moraca, supra, 244 N.J. Super. at 17-18, 581 A.2d 510. In concluding there was no coverage for the negligent entrustment claims under the homeowner's policy, we said that "coverage turns on the cause of injury, rather than on the legal theory asserted against the insured." Id. at 17, 581 A.2d 510 (quoting 7A Appleman Insurance Law and Practice 4500 (Berdal ed. Supp.1990)). The Court held that because the claim of negligent entrustment is so intertwined with automobile use in that "no harm is done until the entrustee negligently drives the vehicle," the automobile exclusion in the homeowner's policy applies and it is, therefore, the automobile policy, not the homeowner's policy, that must provide coverage. Id. at 14, 17, 581 A.2d 510. The Court treated the term "motorized land vehicle" as synonymous with automobiles and other types of vehicles. Id. at 13, 581 A.2d 510.