In a case that drew strong amici curiae interest from the insurance industry, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that an insurance carrier must defend its insured in a lawsuit by a man who was accidentally shot while intervening in a murder-suicide.

In Erie Insurance Exchange v. Moore, Erie sought a declaration that it did not have to defend or indemnify the estate of Harold McCutcheon Jr., who in September 2013 fatally shot his ex-wife Terry McCutcheon, before he shot her then-boyfriend, Richard Carly, in the face, and then fatally shot himself. According to a complaint Carly later filed against Harold McCutcheon’s estate, Harold McCutcheon had pulled Carly into the house when Carly attempted to enter through the front door after becoming concerned about Terry McCutcheon. Carly’s complaint alleged the shooting happened accidentally while the two were struggling over the gun.