Amanda Leffler Provides Comments to Business Insurance on Win for Policyholder

Brouse Partner and Co-Chair of the Insurance Recovery Practice Group Amanda Leffler was quoted in Business Insurance discussing the importance of the recent appeals decision in P.I. & I. Motor Express, Inc. v. RLI Insurance Co. resulting in a win for client P.I. & Motor Express, Inc.

The appeals court upheld a jury’s previous decision that a general liability insurer must cover a trucking company’s $2 million settlement for an accident that required the amputation of an injured driver’s legs, despite the insurer’s claims that the underlying plaintiff’s allegations regarding his employment status excluded him from coverage. The court also found the policy’s workers’ compensation exclusion was inapplicable because the injured driver did not bring the underlying tort action against the policyholder under Pennsylvania’s workers’ compensation law.

Amanda explained why this decision was so important saying, “prior to this case, other courts nationally had broadly construed the workers’ compensation exclusion for a variety of reasons not applicable to our case.” She added that, “the Sixth Circuit properly rejected the insurer’s attempts to stretch the exclusion beyond its plain and commonly understood meaning.” This culminated in a decision she called “a significant win for policyholders.”

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