Stewart Smith attorney Greg Delfiner recently published an article in Property Casualty 360 and the Insurance Coverage Law Center, a digital publication focused on the latest news related to insurance coverage matters. Greg’s article, “Pennsylvania’s “Four Corners” Rule May Not Be Applied With Blinders On When Determining An Insurer’s Duty To Defend An Additional Insured,” examines the application of Pennsylvania’s strict “four corners” rule, which is used to determine an insurer’s duty to defend, when a person or entity seeks additional insured coverage under an insurance policy issued to an employer, in connection with an underlying personal injury action filed by that employer’s employee. This issue provides a bit of a curveball given that a typical additional insured endorsement requires that the “bodily injury” be caused, in whole or in part, by the named insured’s (i.e., the employer’s) acts or omissions and an underlying plaintiff employee will not name his/her employer as a defendant (and will not likely make any direct allegations against his/her employer), due to the employer’s protections under Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act.
We encourage you to read Greg’s article to learn how the courts are handling this issue.