Travelers paid more than $1 million to replace a school roof. A jury blamed the fireworks for $89,169 of it.
On August 31, 2026, an Ohio appeals court refused to disturb that award, ending a subrogation case that started with a July 4, 2019 display.
American Fireworks Company ran the show on the grounds of Willoughby Eastlake City Schools under a contract with the City of Willoughby. The school said falling debris damaged a new thermoplastic roof and sought $1,285,357.57 in repairs. Travelers, its property insurer, had already paid $1,032,677.15 to replace the membrane and joined the suit to recover.
The jury split the outcome in a way any subrogation professional will recognize. It found American Fireworks was not negligent, but held the company strictly liable under a signed permit application. Then it set damages at $89,169 - a small fraction of what Travelers had paid out.
Proximate cause, not liability, decided the size of the check. American Fireworks argued the roof was flawed before a single shell went up. The manufacturer, Johns Manville, had withheld a warranty pending corrective work, and inspectors found construction defects and patching rather than burn-through. The jury agreed the fireworks had not caused the need for a full membrane replacement.
The case also carries a lesson on additional-insured verification. The contract required American Fireworks to name the property owner as an additional insured. The school insisted it never did - then admitted at trial that the certificate of insurance listed the school all along, in fine print counsel caught just before trial.
The trial judge had directed a verdict against the school on that contract claim. The appeals court found that ruling wrong, because the school was blocked from asking witnesses whether the certificate actually delivered the promised coverage. It called the mistake harmless anyway. With full-replacement causation already rejected, the award would have been $89,169 under any theory.
The court also upheld the exclusion of coverage evidence under Ohio's Evid.R. 411, which bars proof of liability insurance offered to show fault. That kept the contract's $10 million property-coverage figure, and a liability report from the insurer's third-party administrator, away from the jury.
The judgment is final, with costs taxed against the school and Travelers.
