Ameron International Corporation, Plaintiff and Appellant v. Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania…

Summary

The court held that a federal administrative adjudicative proceeding before the IBCA qualifies as a "suit" under liability insurance policies that do not define that term. Because the proceeding required a complaint, involved a trial-like hearing, and could result in liability and damages, it provided the type of notice and adjudication associated with a suit and triggered the insurers' duties to defend and indemnify. Justice Kennard, concurring, would have overruled the prior bright-line rule rather than merely limiting it to pollution remediation orders and similar nonadjudicative matters.