Third Circuit Holds That Premises Exclusion Bars Coverage And Limits Application Of "Pacific Indemnity v. Linn"

In American Western Home Insurance Company v. Donnelly Distribution, Inc., No. 11-3753, slip op. (3d Cir. April 26, 2013), available at 2013 WL 1777267, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, applying Pennsylvania law, reversed the district court’s summary judgment order holding that a general liability insurer had a duty to defend and indemnify a policyholder in a lawsuit seeking damages resulting from an accident occurring off the policyholder’s premises.

The policyholder in American Western, a newspaper distributor, had been sued by a woman who claimed that she was injured when she slipped and fell on plastic ties that bind materials the policyholder distributes, and that its employees negligently discarded.  Id. at *1.  The policy at issue contained a provision “restricting coverage to bodily injuries ‘arising out of . . . [t]he ownership maintenance or use’ of [the Howard Street Premises] and operations ‘necessary or incidental’ to