Third Circuit Revives $4M Insurance Coverage Dispute in Highway Pileup Cases

Partner Jonathan Cass and Associate Dylan LaMorte of Cohen Seglias secured a reversal for their policy holder client from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a significant insurance coverage dispute arising from highway construction activities. After finding the applicable policy language ambiguous, the Third Circuit overturned a lower court’s dismissal and remanded the case back to the trial court for further proceedings. Law360 recently featured this case win on their site here.

The dispute arose from two separate vehicle pileups that occurred on two separate highway construction project that resulted in multiple deaths and multiple lawsuits. The insured sought coverage for these accidents under liability policies issued by its CGL and excess carriers, asserting that the policies provided coverage for the lawsuits pursuant to a “per project aggregate.” After one of the excess carriers denied that its policy provided “per project aggregate” coverage, the insured filed suit against the carrier, only to have the case dismissed on response to the carrier’s motion to dismiss.