Chris Eldredge Containers, LLC v. National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, et al.

In its amicus brief, United Policyholders urges the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to affirm the Superior Court’s ruling in favor of policyholder Chris Eldredge Containers, LLC. The case turns on whether an “Absolute Auto, Aircraft and Watercraft Exclusion” bars the insurers’ duty to defend where the underlying complaint alleges that injuries were caused not by an automobile, but by an Ottawa Terminal Tractor—a piece of equipment that the insurers’ own policy does not define as an “auto.” UP argues that the Superior Court correctly applied the four-corners rule, that auto exclusions require the auto to be the direct proximate cause of injury, that exclusions must be construed narrowly against insurers, and that ambiguous policy language must be resolved in favor of coverage. UP further contends that the appellant insurers failed to meet their burden of proving the exclusion applied, and that denying coverage on these facts would undermine longstanding Pennsylvania insurance law and harm policyholders statewide.