Travelers says a rival insurer covered one party in a Chicago jobsite injury case, then refused to answer for a second party owed the same coverage.
The Travelers Indemnity Company filed suit on June 15, 2026, in federal court in Chicago, asking a judge to make Houston Specialty Insurance Company defend and pay for a general contractor pulled into a construction injury lawsuit.
The case traces back to December 28, 2022. A bricklayer, Joseph Perez, who worked for the subcontractor Creative Erectors, tripped over protruding embedded rebar at a Chicago project and was hurt, according to the complaint. He and his wife sued the general contractor, Linn-Mathes, and the precast concrete supplier, Wells Concrete.
Travelers insures Wells. Houston Specialty insures Creative Erectors. The fight turns on the subcontract, which Travelers says required Creative Erectors to name both Wells and Linn-Mathes as additional insureds - extra parties added to a policy so they are covered too - "on a primary and non-contributory basis."
The complaint quotes the contract's insurance rider, which it says required naming "Wells Concrete, Linn-Mathes, Inc., 835 W, LLC, and their respective agents, consultants, and employees," along with "CG2010 07/04 and CG2037 07/04 additional insured endorsements, or their equivalents."
Creative Erectors did buy a Houston Specialty general liability policy, with per-occurrence limits of $2,000,000 and a $4,000,000 aggregate, plus a $5,000,000 umbrella, the filing states.
Here is Travelers' core point. It alleges Houston Specialty accepted the defense for Wells under that same policy, for the same incident, arising from the same work - but did not respond on Linn-Mathes, the other required additional insured.
The timeline matters. Travelers says it tendered Linn-Mathes' defense on September 24, 2024, and that the first substantive reply came 49 days later, on November 12, 2024, from a senior claims adjuster who said she was waiting on the insurer's legal department. According to the filing, the adjuster said on December 16, 2024 that a coverage position letter would come "shortly," but none arrived. Travelers says a final demand on February 6, 2025 also drew no response.
The logic is simple: if the policy covers Wells for this loss, Travelers argues, it must cover Linn-Mathes for the same event. The complaint says Houston Specialty's acceptance of the Wells tender "confirms that the Policy covers the underlying loss."
For claims teams, that is the takeaway. Travelers wants the court to declare Linn-Mathes an additional insured, order Houston Specialty to defend and indemnify it, and have Houston Specialty repay the defense costs Travelers has carried since November 2024.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Houston Specialty has not yet filed a response, and no judge has ruled.
