Linda S. Woolf and Joseph B. Wolf obtained a favorable ruling in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for their client Empire Fire & Marine Insurance Company. In its June 27, 2012 opinion in Forkwar v. Empire Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 2012 WL 2402564, the Fourth Circuit held that the accident at issue in the case, came within an exclusion in the Empire policy covering accidents that occur when the truck is being used in the business of a trucking company. The Fourth Circuit rejected Forkwar’s argument that the exclusion did not apply because Empire’s insured had not yet picked up the loaded trailer and was not yet “on the clock” at the time of the accident. The Fourth Circuit also rejected Forkwar’s argument that a finding in the underlying tort action that the trucking company was not vicariously liable for Empire’s insured’s negligence precluded Empire from denying coverage based upon the exclusion.
