Back in 2019, in the case of Gallagher v. GEICO Indemnity, 201 A.3d 131, 138 (Pa. 2019), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the household exclusion, found in automobile insurance policies, violated Pennsylvania’s Motor Vehicle Financial Responsibility Law and was, therefore, not enforceable under any circumstance.
With its Gallagher decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw open the door for injured parties to seek uninsured (UM) and underinsured (UIM) motorists benefits coverage in a wide variety of new circumstances. The decision reversed 20 years of precedent and resulted in expensive litigation on the issue in many pending cases. Plaintiffs also revived old cases in which the household exclusion had been previously applied against them to preclude coverage. A class action lawsuit in this regard even developed.
