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Travelers seeks to stop covering fatal Spokane crash tied to road work
The insurer argues the driver fatality stemmed from issues unrelated to the paving it insured, and it asked a federal judge to shift its defense costs to four rival carriers.
Travelers is asking a federal court in Spokane to end its defense in a fatal crash lawsuit involving Spokane County and companies tied to a road project, according to a filing cited by Insurance Business.
The carrier said Spokane County hired Scarsella Bros. Inc. for the Bigelow Gulch Road Project 5, and Scarsella subcontracted paving to Poe Asphalt Paving, which completed the work on September 18, 2020. The dispute follows a crash on North Forker Road on October 11, 2020, at about 2:12 a.m., in which a driver died and his wife was injured.
In the underlying case, filed in 2023, the driver’s estate and widow sued the county, the public works department, and Scarsella, alleging the road was re-routed without adequate warning, guardrails were missing, and signs were not properly positioned. The complaint also alleges warning signs were covered with hydroseed attributed to King Hydroseeding.
Travelers previously agreed to defend the county and Scarsella as additional insureds under Poe Asphalt’s general liability coverage, but it sent reservation of rights letters beginning November 18, 2024. The insurer’s argument hinges on an additional-insured endorsement that covers claims only if they arise out of Poe’s work, which Travelers says was limited to paving, and that the alleged failures in the crash do not meet that requirement.