Question: What is the standard for an insured to be occupying the vehicle at the time of the incident as required by the UIM policy of insurance?
Answer: Under the Miller factors, the courts determine whether the injured party maintained a relationship between themselves and the insured automobile at the time of injury?
To resolve whether the present circumstances fall under the terms of the UIM policy of insurance, the Indiana courts start with the general rules of contract interpretation. When construing similar policy language, the Indiana courts developed the following four-factor test:
whether a person is “occupying” a vehicle for purposes of [UIM] coverage requires consideration of: (1) the distance between the accident and the covered vehicle; (2) the time separating the accident and the exit from the covered vehicle; (3) the individual’s opportunity to reach a zone of safety; and (4) the individual’s intentions in relation to the covered vehicle.
This test was first expressed in the Miller case, where the panel held “a person has not ceased ‘occupying’ a vehicle until he has severed his connection with it—i.e., when he is on his own without any reference to it.” The Miller factors aid in determining whether the injured party maintained “a relationship between [himself] and the insured automobile” at the time of his injury. Each factor carries “greater or lesser weight depending upon the circumstances of each individual case,” and “[t]here may be instances in which one of the factors may be determinative.”