Appellate Court Upholds Auto Carrier's Denial of Coverage.

In the non-precedential case of Halstead v. Progressive Specialty Ins. Co., No. 430 MDA 2025 (Pa. Super. July 28, 2026 Bowes, J., Dubow, J., and Neuman, J.) (Mem. Op. by Bowes, J.), the appellate court reversed an Order of the trial court denying the insurance company’s Motion for Summary Judgment in a declaratory judgment action. The appellate court remanded the case for the entry of a declaratory judgment in favor of Progressive.

According to the Opinion, the tortfeasor was driving a motor vehicle that was insured under a policy issued by Kemper Insurance when he rear-ended a vehicle being operated by the Plaintiff and in which the Plaintiff’s wife was a passenger. The Plaintiff-wife tragically died from the injuries sustained in the incident.

Thereafter, the Plaintiff-husband sued the tortfeasor for the Plaintiff-husband’s own injuries and as the estate representative on the claims for his deceased wife.

The Defendant driver requested excess liability insurance coverage from Progressive.

However, Progressive Insurance denied the claim, contending that its policy, which was issued to the tortfeasor’s father, excluded excess coverage for the tortfeasor’s liability to the Plaintiff.

Thereafter, Kemper Insurance tendered its policy limits in settlement.

At that point in time, the tortfeasor Defendant assigned his rights under the policy to the Plaintiff, who then initiated a declaratory judgment action against Progressive seeking a judicial determination that Progressive was required to provide coverage for the claim.

At some point in the litigation, the tortfeasor Defendant died from causes not apparent from the record. The underlying negligence claim was stayed pending the determination of the declaratory judgment action addressing Progressive’s possible duty to provide coverage.

Progressive filed a Motion for Summary Judgment arguing three (3) bases for its entitlement to judgment as a matter of law. First, the carrier claimed that, given that the tortfeasor Defendant had passed way at the time the Plaintiff initiated the declaratory judgment action, it was too late for the Plaintiff to substitute his estate in the caption.

Second, Progressive maintained that the tortfeasor’s assignment of his rights to the Plaintiff was invalid because the insurance policy required Progressive’s written consent to transfer the rights and duties to another person.

Third, Progressive reiterated its claim that coverage was excluded pursuant to the terms of the policy.

The appellate court first addressed the issue of whether the appeal was properly before it. 

In this regard, the appellate court agreed with the carrier’s position that the practical effect of the trial court’s denial of the Motion for Summary Judgment had resolved the entirety of the Plaintiff’s eligibility for declaratory relief. In other words, the appellate court noted that the practical effect of the trial court’s denying Progressive’s Motion for Summary Judgment was to declare that the Plaintiff was entitled to the declaratory relief that was requested.

Given that the trial court’s ruling left no additional issues to be resolved and had the practical effect of deciding the outcome of the case rather than merely narrowing the issues, the appellate court noted that the appeal was properly before it.

On the merits, the appellate court ruled that the tortfeasor Defendant did not meet the definition of a “named insured” under the terms of the policy and the vehicle that the tortfeasor was operating did not fall under the definition of “covered vehicle” under the terms of the policy.

The court otherwise noted that, under the plain terms of the policy and an exclusion, there was no liability coverage for a loss arising from the use of a vehicle that was not listed in the declarations page and that was owned by a relative of the named insured, rather than being owned by the named insured himself, unless the loss was occasioned by the named insured’s use of the relative’s non-covered automobile, which was not the case in this matter.

The appellate court otherwise noted, taken as a whole, it was clear that the intent of the insurance policy was that, for there to be coverage for third-party liability resulting from an automobile that was owned or regularly used by a named insured or a relative of the named insured, the automobile had to be a covered auto that was listed on the declarations page, which was not the case here.

As such, the appellate court held that the trial court erred in declaring that the policy did not exclude coverage for the tortfeasor’s liability to the Plaintiff. As such, the trial court Order denying Progressive’s Motion for Summary Judgment was reversed and the case was remanded for the entry of a declaratory judgment in favor of Progressive on a holding that there was no coverage under the policy.

Anyone wishing to review a copy of this non-precedential decision may click this LINK.