Pennsylvania Nat'l Mutual v. Roberts, No. 10-1987 (4th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseIn this case, an insurer sought a declaratory judgment that it was required to indemnify its insured for no more than 40% of a state court judgment because it had covered its insured for no more than 40% of the time in which the state court plaintiff was exposed to lead poisoning. The district court agreed that the insurer was responsible for only a portion of the judgment, notwithstanding the fact that its insured was held jointly and severally liable for the entire judgment in the underlying state proceeding. Plaintiff challenged the district court's decision to allocate the insurer's liability on a pro rata basis. Plaintiff next argued that even if pro rata allocation was appropriate, the district court should have used the date of her first elevated blood lead level rather than her date of birth to calculate her period of exposure. The insurer challenged the district court's refusal to reduce its period of coverage to 22 months. Applying Maryland law, the court affirmed the district court's judgment with respect to plaintiff's arguments. With respect to the matter raised by the cross-appeal, the court reversed. The principle underlying the court's decision was that an insurance company could not be held liable for periods of risk it never contracted to cover. Accordingly, the court reversed in part and affirmed in part.
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