In responding to a certified question from the Ninth Circuit, the Hawaii Supreme Court determined that a permissive user was entitled to uninsured motorist benefits under the chain of events test when injured by an uninsured motorist. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Mizuno, 2020 Haw. LEXIS 359 (Haw. Nov. 20, 2020). 

    Mizuno received permission from his girlfriend, Wong, to use her vehicle to deliver the couple's bills to the post office and to drive to work. After dropping of the bills, Mizuno was struck and injured by an unidentified driver. He collected compensation for injuries under his own auto policy and then sought benefits under Wong's policy for UM coverage.

    The State Farm UM coverage provided that State Farm "will pay damages for bodily injury an insured is legally entitled to recover from the owner or driver of an uninsured motor vehicle." The policy defined "insured" to include any person occupying the vehicle with a reasonable belief that he was entitled do so. State Farm argued that the policy occupancy restriction for uninsured users, limiting the meaning of "occupying" to situations where the "other person" was "in, on, entering, or exiting" the vehicle, excluded coverage for Mizuno. 

    State Farm sued in federal district court for a declaratory judgment and obtained summary judgment on the issue of whether Mizuno was "occupying" Wong's vehicle at the time of the accident. On appeal, Mizuno argued he was entitled to UM coverage because he was using the insured vehicle to deliver mail and due to an uninterrupted "chain of events" involving the insured vehicle, was injured. 

    The Ninth Circuit certified the following question to the Hawaii Supreme Court:

Under Hawaii law, is a permissive user of an insured vehicle, whose connection to the insured vehicle is permission to use the vehicle to run errands and drive to work, entitled to uninsured motorist (UM) benefits under the chain-of-events test because he was injured by an uninsured motorist?

    The Hawaii Supreme Court answered in the affirmative. The court broadly interpreted Hawaii's UM statute so that UM benefits applied even when a individual was not "in, on, entering, or exiting" the insured vehicle. Under the chain of events test, the factual determination for whether UM coverage was available for a permissive user injured outside of the insured vehicle was whether the claimant could demonstrate some connection with the insured vehicle.

    Mizuno's case fell squarely within the chain of events test. His use was permissive. Further, Mizuno had some connection to the insured vehicle.