The Connecticut Supreme Court, rejecting a nearly 20-year-old precedent, has ruled that an automobile insurance policy containing underinsured motorist coverage as required by state law cannot validly exclude benefits to the insured when the owner of the underinsured vehicle is a rental car company designated as a “self-insurer” by Connecticut’s insurance commissioner.

The Case Sandra and Patrick Tannone were crossing the street when they were struck and seriously injured by an automobile. That automobile was a rental car owned by EAN Holdings, LLC, more commonly known as Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Enterprise had leased the vehicle to Barbara Wasilesky, but she was not driving at the time of the collision. The vehicle was instead operated by a permitted user named Arthur Huffman.