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Local attorney calls case related to murder-suicide ‘precedent-setting’

3 min read
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Richard Carly’s attorney called his client “a Good Samaritan” and predicted that’s how the case – which he said sets a precedent in Pennsylvania – will come to be known.

Carly, the fiance of Terri McCutcheon, knew something was wrong when she abruptly ended a phone call the night of Sept. 26, 2013, and he went to her home to find out why.

McCutcheon’s ex-husband broke into her home, shot and killed her and left a note saying he intended to kill himself. But before the suicide, Carly arrived.

Carly, not knowing his fiancee had already been pistol-whipped, shot and was dead, struggled with the gunman and attempted to wrestle the gun from him.

During the struggle, Carly was shot in the face and suffered severe injuries.

South Strabane police contacted the Washington area SWAT team for assistance. Harold McCutcheon Jr. later shot and killed himself after keeping police at bay. Surrounding homes were evacuated.

During the year after the deaths, Carly, through his attorney, Herman Bigi of Charleroi, sued Harold McCutcheon Jr.’s estate, which sought coverage of the suit under two Erie Insurance policies: a homeowner’s policy and a personal catastrophe policy.

Erie claimed it owed no coverage to the estate because Carly’s injuries were not caused by an accidental occurrence, but because of McCutcheon’s “expected or intended” actions.

The insurance company won at the county level in a decision by Judge Katherine B. Emery, but Bigi appealed and prevailed in state Superior Court. Erie appealed but lost in the Supreme Court.

“Contrary to Erie’s view, this surprise encounter with Carly was not part of (Harold McCutcheon Jr.’s) other intentional conduct … Had the policy’s exclusion expressly stated coverage would not apply to incidents involving firearms, or during the commission of a crime, then perhaps there would be no duty to defend the underlying claims by Carly. But the policy does not say this,” according to the 15-page opinion authored late last month by Justice Kevin Dougherty. Concurring were Justices Max Baer, Christine Donohue and David Wecht.

Justice Sallie Mundy wrote a nine-page dissenting opinion which Chief Justice Thomas Saylor and Justice Debra Todd joined.

“The Carly complaint does not carry with it the degree of … unexpectedness necessary to constitute an accidental occurrence,” Mundy wrote.

Bigi, in a phone interview, described Carly as “totally wiped out. He had to sell personal items to live. This is a win for a Good Samaritan against a giant insurance company.”

Carly, of Washington, is now in his 60s, according to his attorney.

The state Supreme Court sent the case back to Washington County. Bigi said it has been assigned to Judge John DiSalle.

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