Pennsylvania Supreme Court News

Pennsylvania High Court Backs ‘Regular Use’ Exclusion for Underinsured Motorist Cover

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a “regular use” exclusion in an auto insurance policy that prohibits underinsured motorist coverage for injuries involving a non-owned vehicle that an insured used regularly. In so doing, the state’s high court reversed a …

Are Expensive Judicial Races the New Normal in Pennsylvania After High Court Campaign?

The race for an open seat on Pennsylvania`s highest court initially resembled the sleepy contests that had played out for decades: low turnout, little media coverage and just enough spending to afford some biographical TV ads on cable. Then attack …

Spending Passes $17 Million in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Race

Millions more dollars are flowing into Pennsylvania`s race for an open state Supreme Court seat, as labor unions, trial lawyers and billionaires are spending heavily in the campaign to influence a court that has been pivotal in major election-related cases …

Employer Hosting Golf Outing Not Liable for Drunk Driver, Pennsylvania High Court Says

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to extend the state’s liquor liability law to social hosts. The high court cited a half-century of precedent in upholding lower courts in a case where an employer hosting a golf outing for employees …

Pennsylvania High Court Rejects Damages Cap in Insurance Agency Poaching Case

A jury’s $2.8 million punitive damage award against an insurance agency and broker that tried to poach a competitor’s staff and book of business was not excessive even though it was more than 10 times the amount of compensatory damages, …

Pennsylvania High Court Addresses When Stacked Coverage Waiver Is Not Needed

The removal of a vehicle from a multiple motor vehicle insurance policy, in which stacked coverage had previously been waived, does not require a renewed express waiver of stacked coverage under Pennsylvania’s Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law. The Pennsylvania Supreme …

Workers’ Comp Takes Bite Out of Employee Right to Sue Third Party: Pennsylvania High Court

A Pennsylvania employer cannot be sued for blocking an employee from suing the third party responsible for her workplace injury, the state’s high court has ruled in reversing two lower courts. In a case involving an employee who was bitten …

Pennsylvania Loosens Rules on Where Medical Malpractice Cases Can Be Filed

Pennsylvania’s highest court lastThursday reversed its own two-decade-old rule that required medical malpractice cases to be filed in the county where the alleged harm occurred, a win for civil plaintiffs and the lawyers who represent them but a potentially costly …

Pennsylvania Adopts Exception to Ban on an Insurer Subrogating Against an Insured

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has sided with an insurer seeking subrogation for payments it made to an injured worker before it was determined the insurer was not obligated to make the payments. The state’s highest court (6-0) adopted an exception …

Salesperson Injured Leaving Employer Happy Hour Could Receive Workers’ Comp

A traveling salesperson injured in a car accident after an employer-sponsored happy hour had to drive past the highway exit to his home on the way to the event, sparking debate over whether he was still considered “on the job” …