PITTSBURGH – The real estate company behind a Pittsburgh property, one currently the subject of several lawsuits connected to a fatal shooting which took place there in April 2022, is now suing an independent insurance agency for negligence, which it says led to its coverage from a prospective new insurer being denied.
900 Group, LLC of Pittsburgh filed suit in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on Nov. 28 versus Eber & Associates, Inc., of Pleasant Hills.
At all relevant times in the action, Gregory Barr and Daniel Boyd were and continue to be the owners of 900 North Group, which owned and continues to own the residential property located at 900-902 Madison Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
“The subject property is an ‘up and down’ duplex which had previously been rented out as an Airbnb, but, more recently, was used as a residential apartment occupied by tenants pursuant to written leases. On April 17, 2022, while the subject property was being rented to a third party that subsequently sub-let the property as an Airbnb, a shooting occurred on the property during a large party thrown by the renter of the property, resulting in two deaths and multiple wounded. In the wake of the shooting, multiple lawsuits were filed in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas on behalf of the Estates of the individuals who were killed in the shooting as well as persons injured during the incident. 900 North Group has been named as a defendant in those lawsuits,” the suit states.
“As a result of the shooting and the subsequent lawsuits, the 900 North Group’s property insurer, Nationwide Insurance Company, declined to renew the insurance policy issued to 900 North Group for the subject property, and communicated that declination to 900 North Group. On or about Dec. 21, 2022, upon Nationwide’s non-renewal of the insurance policy for the subject property, one of the Members of 900 North Group, Gregory Barr, contacted William Eber, President of Eber & Associates, an independent insurance agency, to seek the assistance of Eber & Associates in securing new insurance coverage for the property to replace the policy that had been non-renewed by Nationwide. During the conversation between Mr. Barr and Mr. Eber, Mr. Barr informed Mr. Eber about the details of the April 2022 shooting incident, which was a highly-publicized incident in the local media, and informed Mr. Eber about the pending lawsuits against 900 North arising from the incident.”
The suit continues that Mr. Barr also informed Mr. Eber of the fact that Nationwide had refused to renew coverage for the subject property and therefore, 900 North needed assistance to obtain new insurance to replace the Nationwide coverage.
“Following Mr. Barr’s discussions with Mr. Eber about the potential procurement of insurance coverage for the subject property, Peter Vesely, an employee of Eber & Associates, sent an e-mail on Dec. 21, 2022 informing him that insurance coverage had been bound (without identifying the new insurer) effective Dec. 21, 2022, and that he had sent ‘the application page for the policy that Bill had talked to you about.’ Mr. Vesely stated to Mr. Barr that he had sent to him a ‘DocuSign form’ and that ‘this is just the application page that we need to have on file.’ Mr. Barr informed Mr. Vesely via e-mail that he did not receive any notification from DocuSign to which Mr. Vesely responded to Mr. Barr that he had ‘just re-sent it.’ Mr. Barr informed Mr. Vesely that he, once again, did not receive the application, nor did he receive notification from DocuSign that the application was ready to be signed; Mr. Vesely never replied to this follow-up email from Mr. Barr,” the suit says.
“Eber & Associates, by and through its agents or employees, completed the application to be submitted on behalf of 900 North Group, without verifying the accuracy of the information completed on the application. Eventually, either before or after the e-mail exchange, the application was submitted by Eber & Associates to Frederick Mutual Insurance Group with the contents having been completed entirely by agents or employees of Eber & Associates. Frederick Mutual issued an insurance policy, designated as Policy No. BP202203924, with the term beginning Dec. 21, 2022, to 900 North Group covering the subject property based on the application completed by and submitted by Eber & Associates. On May 17, 2023, a fire occurred within an occupied and leased unit in the upper level of the duplex resulting in significant damage to the property. A claim for the property damage was submitted to Frederick Mutual under the policy that had been issued to 900 North Group.”
In the following months, the suit explains, Frederick Mutual investigated the property damage claim, including whether coverage was owed to 900 North Group for the significant property damage resulting from the fire.
During that investigation, Frederick Mutual “revisited and re-examined the insurance application submitted to the company by Eber & Associates, which had resulted in the issuance of the policy to 900 North Group that would have provided insurance coverage for the damage to the subject property.”
“Upon re-examining the insurance application submitted on behalf of 900 North Group through Eber & Associates, Frederick Mutual discovered numerous material misrepresentations contained in the answers completed by Eber & Associates on the application. The misrepresentations in the application include: a) Answering “No” to the question, “Have more than 3 claims been filed?”; b) Answering “No” to the question, “Were any claims in excess of $25,000?”; c) Answering “No” to the question, “Has coverage for this location been declined, cancelled, or non-renewed for underwriting reasons not due to Non-Pay Cancel?”; d) Answering “No” to the question, “Has coverage ever been expired?”; e) Answering “New Purchase” to the bullet point inquiring as to whether there has been any “Other Carrier”; f) Answering “00/00/0000” to the question, “When did prior coverage expire?”; g) Answering “No” to the question, “Has the applicant had any claims within the past 3 years?”; h) Answering “No” to the question, “Have any crimes occurred or been attempted on your premises in the last 3 years?”; and i) Answering “No” to the question, “Do any structures/building have mortgages?,” the suit says.
“No one from Eber & Associates asked Mr. Barr or any other representative of 900 North Group for the information quoted above that was completed by Eber & Associates in the application, and the inaccurate responses that were included on the application were completed solely by representatives of Eber & Associates. Most of the inaccurate responses/misrepresentations described above were directly contrary to information provided by Mr. Barr on behalf of 900 North Group to Bill Eber, during the initial discussion that led to the application for insurance being submitted to Frederick Mutual. Mr. Barr never received an e-mail from the electronic service DocuSign, which is sent automatically if an application or document is ready to be reviewed and/or signed. Prior to the denial of coverage, Mr. Barr never saw the application, nor was he ever informed about the contents of the application. Because of these misrepresentations, Frederick Mutual denied coverage and rescinded the insurance policy covering the subject property by letter dated Oct. 9, 2023.”
For one count of negligence, the plaintiff is seeking judgment in its favor, plus all interests and costs recoverable under applicable Pennsylvania law.
The plaintiff is represented by Alan T. Silko and Thomas Silko of Silko & Associates, in Bridgeville.
The defendant has not yet obtained legal counsel.
Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas case GD-23-013520
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com