Relying on reasoning underpinning a high-profile Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision from last year, a judge in northeastern Pennsylvania has invalidated an insurance policy’s regular use exclusion.

Northampton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Baratta late last month determined that Erie Insurance Exchange’s policy barring coverage for injuries that occurred in vehicles the insured regularly used but did not own went against the Supreme Court’s rationale in Gallagher v. Geico, which restricted insurance companies from using the household exclusion to decline stacking coverage. At the time some insurance litigators said Gallagher would have “seismic” impacts on the insurance industry.