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Starr sues Hartford over refusal to fund $5 million excess limit
The dispute centers on whether Hartford’s excess “Per Project Aggregate Limit” applies to a Chapel Hill streetlight settlement, and Starr is seeking $5 million plus attorneys’ fees and costs.
Starr Indemnity & Liability Company sued Hartford Casualty Insurance Company in federal court in North Carolina on September 3, accusing Hartford of improperly refusing to pay toward a confidential injury settlement capped at $5 million under Hartford’s excess coverage.
According to the complaint, both insurers covered Pike Engineering, the contractor tied to an underlying case involving a pedestrian struck by an SUV at a Chapel Hill crosswalk on December 31, 2021. That dispute later settled confidentially in 2025, after claims were filed alleging nearby streetlights were not working and that Pike failed to fix them under a work order issued in August 2021.
Starr argues the excess layer should be responsible because Hartford’s policy includes a $5 million “Per Project Aggregate Limit,” with an endorsement stating the limit applies to each single “project” and defining “project” as a “jobsite,” a term the policy does not define. Starr says the streetlight job was one project, so Hartford should fund up to the full per-project amount before Starr owes any share.
Hartford, Starr alleges, took the opposite view, arguing that the per-project limit did not apply and that only Hartford’s general aggregate limit was relevant and already exhausted due to payments for other claims. Starr is asking the court to rule in its favor on the limit interpretation and to order Hartford to repay Starr via contribution and subrogation claims for $5 million plus attorneys’ fees and costs, saying Starr overpaid because Hartford would not fund any part of the settlement.