Allegheny Ludlum, LLC v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
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No. 20-3073
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ALLEGHENY LUDLUM, LLC,
Appellant
v.
LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY; LIBERTY MUTUAL FIRE
INSURANCE COMPANY; HARTFORD CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY;
HARTFORD ACCIDENT & INDEMNITY COMPANY; CONTINENTAL
CASUALTY COMPANY*; UNITED STATES FIDELITY & GUARANTY
COMPANY
*Party was dismissed per 1/6/21 Court Order
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On Appeal from the United States District Court
For the Western District of Pennsylvania
(D.C. No. 2-17-cv-01243)
District Judge: Honorable William S. Stickman, IV
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Argued May 20, 2021
Before: McKEE, RESTREPO and FUENTES, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: September 14, 2021)
Jessica Moran
David R. Osipovich
Thomas M. Reiter [Argued]
Thomas J. Smith
K&L Gates
210 Sixth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Counsel for Appellant

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Kathleen K. Kerns
John C. Sullivan [Argued]
Post & Schell
1600 John F. Kennedy Boulevard
Four Penn Center, 14th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Counsel for Appellees Liberty Mutual Insurance Co and Liberty Mutual Fire
Insurance Co
Timothy R. Dingilian
Myles D. Morrison
James P. Ruggeri [Argued]
Shipman & Goodwin
1875 K Street, N.W.
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006
Patrick M. Fahey
Shipman & Goodwin
One Constitution Plaza
Hartford, CT 06103
Michael A. Shiner
Tucker Arensberg
1500 One PPG Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Counsel for Appellees Hartford Casualty Insurance Co and Hartford Accident &
Indemnity Co
Rod B. McCullough
Alan S. Miller [Argued]
Houston Harbaugh
401 Liberty Avenue
22nd Floor, Three Gateway Center
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
Counsel for Appellees United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co

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OPINION*
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McKEE, Circuit Judge
Appellant Allegheny Ludlum, LLC appeals the District Court’s grant of summary
judgment to its insurers Liberty Mutual Insurance Company; Liberty Mutual Fire
Insurance Company (together “Liberty”); Hartford Casualty Insurance Company;
Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company (together “Hartford”); and United States
Fidelity & Guaranty Company (“USF&G”).1 The District Court rejected Allegheny
Ludlum’s assertion that the four-year statute of limitations had not expired on its
declaratory judgment and bad faith claims against Appellees Liberty and Hartford.2
Applying the Pennsylvania Superior Court en banc decision in Selective Way Insurance
Co. v. Hospitality Group Services, Inc.,3 the District Court determined Allegheny
Ludlum’s cause of action accrued when the insurers denied coverage in 2010, seven years
before Allegheny Ludlum filed suit. We will affirm the District Court as to the claims
against those insurers substantially for the reasons set forth in the District Court’s
Memorandum and Order.
* This disposition is not an opinion of the full Court and pursuant to I.O.P. 5.7 does not
constitute binding precedent.
1 Appellee Continental Casualty Company was dismissed per the Court’s January 6, 2021
order.
2 Allegheny Ludlum, LLC, v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 487 F. Supp. 3d 350, 355-60 (W.D. Pa
2020).
3 119 A.3d 1035 (Pa. Super. 2015).

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We will also affirm the grant of summary judgment in favor of Appellee USF&G.
The District Court relied upon the absence of a covered “occurrence” under the policy.4
We need not determine if there was a covered occurrence because the USF&G pollution
provision clearly excludes coverage of bodily injury that “would not have occurred but
for exposure to pollutants.”5 It is clear that the plaintiffs’ claims arose from their
exposure to hexavalent chromium in welding fumes, and that the District Court correctly
identified those fumes as a pollutant within the scope of the pollution exclusion.
Accordingly, we will also affirm the District Court’s order as to USF&G.
4 See Allegheny Ludlum, 487 F. Supp. 3d at 360 (citing Kvaerner Metals Div. of Kvaerner
U.S., Inc. v. Comm. Union Ins. Co., 908 A.2d 888, 897 (Pa. 2006)).
5 Id. at 363.

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