visibility of the keys was a tacit invitation to use the car. The plaintiffs proved by a preponderance that Bias was an omnibus insured under the policy, and the trial court erred in concluding otherwise.
Prudhomme, 95-1502, pp. 5-7; 671 So.2d 1116, 1119-20.
At the outset, we note the similarities between the two cases. Both cases involved situations in which the brother had used his sister's car in the past, both with and without permission. In both cases, the sister had gone to sleep, leaving her keys on the coffee table. However, the case sub judice presents some significant differences. In Prudhomme, the brother had been living with his sister for several months, even though he did not intend to make her home his residence. In the case sub judice,Ms. Thomas had been living out of state for approximately ten years and was only visiting at her mother's home at the time of the accident. While her brother, Robert, had used a car she had owned in the past, he had never used her Explorer, which she had purchased only two weeks previously, and had not driven any vehicle belonging to his sister in ten years. While the keys to the car in both the Prudhomme case and the case at bar were left on the coffee table while the sister retired for the evening, in the instant case, Ms. Thomas was sleeping on the sofa next to the coffee table. This was akin to leaving her keys on her bedside table. She testified that in addition