Pennsylvania Insurer Denying Claim by Slain Good Samaritan

Erie Insurance Exchange has sued to keep from paying an auto insurance claim filed by the family of a woman who was slain when she stopped to help other motorists who were being threatened by a gunman.

Forty-two-year-old Stacey Feiling, of Pennsylvania, was fatally shot June 1 after she was flagged down by a woman and her daughter. Thirty-seven-year-old Raymond Piper Sr. is awaiting trial on charges he murdered Feiling after first wounding his wife and daughter.

Erie contends in the Westmoreland County lawsuit that Feiling’s auto policy doesn’t cover her death, because it didn’t result from an auto accident. The lawsuit doesn’t say how much the insurer is being asked to pay out.

Piper’s preliminary hearing is Jan. 13, due to delays from mental health evaluation.