employer's liability exclusion

Subscribe to employer's liability exclusion

One year ago today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued the first two of four important insurance-coverage law opinions that it would hand down in 2014 and 2015. Those four decisions – which address a number of topics including insurer bad faith, trigger of coverage, policy exclusions, and settlements and reservations of rights – significantly impacted the legal landscape in the commonwealth.

While much has already been written about the specific holding in each of those cases, policyholders can still learn more from each of the decisions. Now – 365 days later – is a good time to reflect on those lessons:Continue Reading 365 Days Later: Lessons Learned from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court

In Hastings Development, LLC v. Evanston Insurance Company, No. 14-cv-6203 (ADS)(AKT) (Oct. 30, 2015), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York correctly determined that an “Employer’s Liability” exclusion in a commercial general liability (“CGL”) policy only applied and precluded coverage when an insured is sued by its own employee(s) and not by an employee(s) of a co-insured. Believing that the exclusion was ambiguous, and based on “the lack of any probative extrinsic evidence” concerning the parties’ intent, the district court applied “the rule of contra preferentem” and found it “appropriate to adopt the Plaintiff’s interpretation of the exclusion because the Plaintiff is the insured and its interpretation of the exclusion is the narrower interpretation.”
Continue Reading Eastern District of New York ultimately arrives at right outcome when interpreting “Employer’s Liability” exclusion in CGL policy

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a long-awaited decision in Mutual Benefit Insurance Company v. Politsopoulos, No. J-85-2014, delivering the insured in that case, and policyholders across Pennsylvania, a big victory.

As explained more fully in Reed Smith’s recent Client Alert – “’The” insured versus “any” insured: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court limits the application …