Pennsylvania National Mutual Casualty Insurance v. Roberts, 668 F.3d 106

Penn National Mutual sought a declaratory judgment to limit indemnity to 40% of the Maryland state court judgment, based on coverage during 24 months of Roberts’s exposure.
Roberts’s state suit against Attsgood and Gondrezick for lead-poisoning injuries resulted in an $850,000 judgment, joint and several liability of Attsgood and Gondrezick.
Penn National insured Attsgood for Jan 13, 1992–Jan 13, 1993, with renewal to Jan 13, 1994; policy covered Premises You Own, Rent or Occupy at 1740 East Preston Street.
Roberts argued Penn National should be liable for the entire judgment due to joint and several liability, or, at minimum, for a broader period of exposure than 24 months.
The district court applied pro rata, time-on-the-risk allocation, using 24 months of Penn National coverage and 55 months of Roberts’s exposure, and held Penn National liable for roughly 43.6% of the judgment.
On appeal, Roberts challenged the pro rata allocation and the starting point for exposure; Penn National cross-appealed to reduce its coverage to 22 months.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether pro rata time-on-risk allocation applies here	Roberts: pro rata should apply only to single insured periods, not multi-party liability.	Penn National: apply pro rata by time on risk; insured only during 24 months, not for period before/after.	Yes; Maryland pro rata time-on-risk allocation governs Penn National's liability.
Starting point for exposure in calculating period of lead risk	Roberts contends only 20 months relevant, starting September 1992 after lead diagnosis.	Roberts’s birth date marks exposure period given infancy exposure evidence.	Birth date used; evidence showed exposure since infancy; starting point remains January 1991.
Whether Penn National’s coverage ended when Attsgood sold the property, limiting months of coverage to 22	Penn National may owe more than 22 months if the policy continued past sale.	Contract language limits coverage to Premises You Own, Rent or Occupy; sale to Gondrezick terminated coverage; non-assignment clause preserved.	Yes; Penn National’s coverage ends at sale; liability limited to 22/55 of the judgment (40%).

Pennsylvania Nat'l Mut. Cas. Ins. Co. v. Roberts, Not needed here (—) (contextual—see opinion text for pro rata allocation and contract interpretation)
In re Wallace & Gale Co., 385 F.3d 820 (4th Cir. 2004) (supports pro rata allocation in Maryland continuous-trigger cases)
Olin Corp. v. Ins. Co. of N. Am., 221 F.3d 307 (2d Cir. 2000) (pro rata allocation across multiple insurers for injuries within policy periods)
Forty-Eight Insulations, Inc. v. City of (etc.), 633 F.2d 1212 (6th Cir. 1980) (each insurer liable for its pro rata share even with joint and several liability)
Sentinel Ins. Co. v. First Ins. Co. of Haw., 875 P.2d 894 (Haw. 1994) (contractual interpretation of insurance coverage and timing of injury)