[¶ 1] Samantha Gillespie and her mother, Tina Taylor, appealed from a summary judgment dismissing their lawsuit against Taylor’s motor vehicle insurer, National Farmers Union, for underinsured motor vehicle coverage. We conclude Gillespie and Taylor failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact about whether Gillespie was legally entitled to collect for bodily injury from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle. We affirm.
I
[¶2] Gillespie and Taylor sued Farmers Union for underinsured motor vehicle coverage, alleging Gillespie was insured *773 under her mother’s motor vehicle policy with Farmers Union and was driving a motor vehicle owned by another person when Gillespie lost control of the vehicle and it overturned, resulting in significant injuries to her. According to Gillespie and Taylor, the motor vehicle was owned by Angela Ayers, Gillespie’s aunt, and insured by GEICO. Ayers died as a result of the accident and another passenger in the motor vehicle sustained significant injuries. Gillespie and Taylor asserted GEICO paid Gillespie $25,000 in no-fault benefits, but denied her request for liability coverage based on a claim that Ayers negligently entrusted the vehicle to Gillespie, an alleged inexperienced driver who received her learner’s permit two days before the accident.
[¶ 3] Taylor’s policy with Farmers Union had underinsured motor vehicle coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per incident. Gillespie and Taylor claimed Gillespie has unpaid medical bills from the accident and her injuries and medical expenses exceed GEICO’s no-fault benefits. According to Gillespie and Taylor, Ayers’ GEICO policy provided liability coverage of $25,000 per person, and they alleged Ayers’ vehicle lacked sufficient insurance to provide liability coverage for all parties injured in the accident. They alleged Farmers Union failed to pay Gillespie underinsured motor vehicle benefits required by Taylor’s insurance contract with Farmers Union and by North Dakota law. Although Farmers Union’s policy says disputes about whether an insured person is legally entitled to recover damages from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle may be determined by arbitration, the parties have not pursued arbitration in this case.
[¶ 4] The district court granted summary judgment dismissing the action against Farmers Union for underinsured motor vehicle coverage, ruling the limits of all applicable bodily injury liability policies had not been exhausted under N.D.C.C. § 26.1^10-15.6(6), which provides that un-derinsured coverage does not apply to an insured’s injuries “[u]ntil the limits of all bodily injury liability policies and bonds that apply have been exhausted by payment of settlements or judgments, or such limits or the remaining part of them have been offered to the insured in writing.” The court explained “exhausted” was ambiguous and followed the “weight of authority” strictly interpreting the word to essentially require complete and total payment of all liability benefits under policy limits before an underinsured motor vehicle claim may lie. The court granted Farmers Union summary judgment on the claim for underinsured motor vehicle coverage.
II
[¶ 5] We review the issues raised in this appeal in the posture of summary judgment, which is a procedural device for promptly resolving an action on the merits without a trial if there are no disputed issues of material fact or inferences that reasonably can be drawn from the undisputed facts, or if the only issues to be resolved are questions of law.
Johnson v. Nodak Mut. Ins. Co.,
The resisting party must present competent admissible evidence by affidavit or other comparable means which raises an issue of material fact and must, if appro-pídate, draw the court’s attention to relevant evidence in the record by setting out the page and line in depositions or other comparable documents containing testimony or evidence raising an issue of material' fact.
’ In summary judgment proceedings, neither the trial court nor the appellate court has any obligation, duty, or responsibility to search the record for evidence opposing the motion for summary judgment. The opposing party must also explain the connection between the factual assertions and the legal theories in the case, and cannot leave to the court the chore of divining what facts are relevant or why facts are relevant, let alone material, to the claim for relief.
Id.
(quoting
Anderson v. Meyer Broad. Co.,
[¶ 6] Summary judgment is appropriate when a party fails to establish the existence of a factual dispute on an essential element of that party’s claim on which the party will bear the burden of proof at trial.
Mr. G’s Turtle Mountain Lodge,
Ill
[¶7] Gillespie and Taylor argue the district court should have determined the liability coverage in GEICO’s policy was exhausted and should have required Farmers Union to provide Gillespie with under-insured motor vehicle coverage. They argue Ayers’ vehicle meets the definition of an underinsured motor vehicle and the severity and number of injured parties involved in the accident exhausted liability coverage for Ayers’ vehicle and triggered Farmers Union’s underinsured coverage. They claim Farmers Union is obligated to provide Gillespie with underinsured motor vehicle coverage because GEICO has unequivocally said it will not make any further payments to her. They argue GEI-CO’s liability policy should be considered exhausted because recovery from GEICO was pursued until no further options existed.
[¶ 8] “Underinsured motorist insurance is a first party coverage arrangement that entitles an insured to compensation for injuries from the [insured’s] insurer.” Wisness
v. Nodak Mut. Ins. Co.,
[¶ 9] The relevant underinsured provisions in Taylor’s policy with Farmers Union and the underinsured provisions in N.D.C.C. ch. 26.1-40 contain nearly identical language. To trigger underinsured motorist coverage under N.D.C.C. ch. 26.1-40, a tortfeasor’s motor vehicle must meet the definition of an underinsured motor vehicle in N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40-15.1(2).
DeCoteau v. Nodak Mut. Ins. Co.,
[¶ 10] Taylor’s Farmers Union’s policy provided underinsured motor vehicle coverage in the amount of $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident. Although Ayers’ GEICO policy is not in this record, the parties agree the liability limit in that policy was $25,000 per person. Ayers’ motor vehicle is an underinsured motor vehicle under the language of Farmers Union’s policy and N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40-15.1(2).
[¶ 11] Under N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40-15.3(1), “[u]nderinsured motorist coverage must pay compensatory damages which an insured is legally entitled to collect for bodily injury ... of such insured, from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of such underinsured motor vehicle.” Farmers Union’s policy requires it to pay damages for bodily injury which an insured is “legally' entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle” and states its obligation applies only to payment for damages in excess of the total limit of all bodily injury policies applicable to persons “legally, responsible” for* the damages and available to cover the damages of the insured person. Moreover, ■ N.D.C.C. §. 26.1-40-15.3(2)(a) provides the maximum liability for underinsured coverage is the lower of the amount of compensatory damages established but not recovered from the “person or organization legally liable” for the injuries, or the limits of liability of the underinsured coverage. Farmers Union’s policy requires the limits of all applicable bodily injury policies to have been exhausted by payment, of settlements, judgments, or offers to the insured person in writing. - See also N.D.C.C. § 26.1-40-15.6(6) (stating underinsured coverage does not apply until the limits of all applicable bodily injury liability policies have been exhausted by payment of settlements or judgments, or such limits on the remaining part of them have been offered to the insured in writing).
[¶ 12] ' A noted scholar on underinsured motorist coverage has recognized the language for “legally entitled to recover” provides that an insured’s right to recover underinsured motor vehicle coverage from an insurer is unequivocally conditioned on the insured establishing the insured is legally entitled to recover , and means an insured is only entitled to recover for injuries resulting from the tortious conduct of the owner or operator of an underinsured motor vehicle. 3 Widiss & Thomas,
Uninsured
&
Underinsured Motorist Insurance,
at § 34.1,
See Hiltner,
[¶ 13] Gillespie’s complaint against Farmers Union alleged she made a claim to GEICO under the liability coverage of its policy with Ayers for the negligent entrustment of the vehicle to Gillespie based on Gillespie’s age, inexperience, and newly licensed status. Gillespie’s complaint alleged she was denied liability coverage under the GEICO policy.
[¶ 14] We have recognized a cause of action for negligent entrustment under the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 390 (1965).
Collette,
One who supplies directly or through a third person a chattel for the use of another whom the supplier knows or has reason to know to be likely because of his youth, inexperience, or otherwise, to use it in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm to himself and others whom the supplier should expect to share in or be endangered by its use, is subject to liability for physical harm resulting to them.
We have said a cause of action for negligent entrustment has been applied to cases involving motor vehicles as well as other chattels “which, if placed in the hands of an incompetent or inexperienced person, present a likelihood of unreasonable risk of harm to third persons.” Collette, a t ¶ 13 (quoting Barsness, at 842). In Collette, at ¶ 20, we affirmed a summary judgment dismissal of a negligent entrustment claim, holding the plaintiff failed to provide any evidence demonstrating the defendant knew, or had reason to know, the plaintiff would use a snowmobile in a manner involving unreasonable risk of physical harm.
[¶ 15] This record does not reflect that Gillespie has brought a tort action against either Ayers’ heirs or GEICO, or otherwise made a claim for negligent entrustment in any other legal proceeding involving this accident. GEICO’s denial of coverage does not resolve whether Ayers was legally' liable for any of Gillespie’s injuries, and Gillespie’s conclusory, unsupported allegations in her complaint against Farmers Union are alone insufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact that the limits of all applicable bodily injury liability policies have been exhausted by payment of settlements, judgments, or offers to the insured person in writing. . We therefore conclude Gillespie failed to establish she was entitled to underinsured motor vehicle coverage from Farmers Union and the district court did not err in granting Farmers Union summary judgment.
IV
[¶ 16] We affirm the judgment.