Dana Mining sought defense and indemnity from Federal Insurance, which denied coverage based, in part, on the policy's employer's liability exclusion (ELE), which excluded coverage for claims or damages sustained by "any employee" arising out of his or her employment with "any insured." (Credit: Michael Evans/Adobe Stock)
The West Virginia Supreme Court sided with an insurance company last week, finding a circuit court erred in concluding the policy's "employer's liability exclusion" was inapplicable to a wrongful death action filed against Dana Mining Co. of Pennsylvania because the decedent was not an employee of the mining company.
In January 2016, Jeremy Neice of West Virginia was killed while working in an underground coal mine in southwestern Pennsylvania that was owned by Dana Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mepco Holdings. Jeremy Neice was an employee of Mepco LLC, and Mepco was insured under a "mining industries" insurance policy issued by Federal at the time of the accident, according to the state high court's unanimous opinion filed March 3, 2023.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader
Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Allison Dunn
Allison Dunn is a reporter on ALM's Rapid Response desk based in Ohio, covering impactful litigation filings and rulings, emerging legal trends, controversies in the industry, and everything in between. Contact her at [email protected]. On Twitter: @AllisonDWrites.
