Court Says Liberty Mutual Need Not Defend Contractors
A federal appeals court affirmed that an insurer owes no further defense to three highway contractors sued over a 2021 Fort Worth pileup.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Construction
The Fifth Circuit affirmed on October 27, 2026, that Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company has no duty to defend North Tarrant Infrastructure, Ferrovial Construction US Corporation, and Webber in lawsuits over a 130-vehicle pileup on I-35W that killed six people. The ruling is unpublished and does not set binding precedent.
Why it matters
The court applied a Texas principle that the duty to defend depends on matching policy language against the allegations in the underlying lawsuits. The pileup suits allege road maintenance and monitoring failures rather than construction defects, which placed them outside the policy's coverage for finished construction work in Fort Worth.
The insurer's coverage obligation rests on a 130-vehicle pileup that killed six people in February 2021, while the contractors finished their I-35W work between 2013 and 2018. The source does not state how the underlying lawsuits will be resolved.
The players
Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company
Liberty Mutual is a major global insurer that issued the policy covering the three contractors for injuries arising from construction work.
Ferrovial Construction US Corporation
Ferrovial Construction US Corporation is the U.S. construction arm of the Spanish infrastructure company Ferrovial, one of the three contractors involved in the I-35W work.
The details
Liberty Mutual asked a federal court in the Northern District of Texas to confirm it did not have to keep paying for the contractors' defense, and the trial court agreed. The Fifth Circuit affirmed that outcome, finding the pileup lawsuits allege failure to operate, maintain, and monitor the highway and prepare for winter weather, not that construction work caused the crash.
Timeline
Between 2013 and 2018, the contractors rebuilt and expanded Segment 3A of I-35W.
On February 11, 2021, a 130-vehicle pileup killed six people on the highway in Fort Worth.
On October 27, 2026, the Fifth Circuit affirmed that Liberty Mutual has no duty to defend the contractors.
Legal Context
The ruling applies the Texas principle that a duty to defend turns on matching policy language against the underlying allegations, a standard Texas courts use across liability insurance disputes. Because the decision is unpublished, it illustrates that framework without setting binding precedent for future Fort Worth or Texas construction cases.
Construction firms working on Texas highways may face closer scrutiny of their insurance coverage once their projects are complete. Drivers in Fort Worth are not directly affected by the coverage ruling itself, which concerns how the insurer and contractors divide defense costs.
The takeaway
Insurance coverage for completed construction work can end before related lawsuits do, depending on how the policy language compares with the claims. Businesses in construction should review how their policies treat finished work and the specific allegations raised after an incident.
Further reading
For more on regulated work in the region, see Construction coverage across Fort Worth.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Insurance Business.
