The parents of Eric Pope, who was allegedly killed by a bouncer at the bar formerly known as Tabu, are requesting a federal jury trial to decide whether an insurance carrier for Tabu and for the bouncer’s employer should provide $1 million in liability coverage regarding their wrongful-death lawsuit.
Tabu was an LGBTQ-oriented sports bar located on South 12th Street in the Gayborhood. It was recently sold to new owners and its name has changed to “254.”
Heather and John Pope made the request for a federal jury trial in legal papers filed last month in federal court in Philadelphia.
Their son died in April 2022, after allegedly being sucker punched by bouncer Kenneth Frye outside Tabu, where Pope had been drinking.
In January 2024, the Popes filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Tabu, Frye and Frye’s employer, Mainline Private Security LLC. The Popes are seeking in excess of $50,000 in damages, according to court records.
But in August 2024, the insurance carrier for Mainline and Tabu filed suit in federal court in Philadelphia, asking a judge to declare that it doesn’t have an obligation to defend or indemnify any defendants in the Popes’ wrongful-death lawsuit.
The insurance carrier is Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Company based in Delaware.
Cincinnati Specialty alleges that due to an insurance-policy exclusion for claims involving assault and battery, there is no money available to defend or indemnify any defendants in the Popes’ wrongful-death case.
The Popes and Mainline Private Security asked U.S. District Judge John F. Murphy to dismiss Cincinnati Specialty’s federal case and let the entire matter — including the insurance dispute — be resolved in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
However, Murphy declined that request in January 2025 and said the insurance dispute will move forward in federal court.
On Feb. 7, the Popes filed legal papers objecting to Cincinnati Specialty’s position and requesting a federal jury trial, since Murphy won’t dismiss the federal case.
“The Policy’s entire purpose is to insure a company [Mainline Private Security] that provides security guards for claims by people injured by those security guards,” the Popes’ attorneys wrote in legal papers. “If given the effect Cincinnati wants, the assault and battery exclusion would effectively nullify all coverage outside the exception. It would deprive Mainline Private Security of the $1-million in liability coverage that Cincinnati sold it, and for which it paid premiums. Under long-standing principles of Pennsylvania law, this inherent ambiguity in the Policy as drafted must be resolved against Cincinnati, and in favor of full coverage for Mainline Private Security.”
The Popes’ attorneys emphasized that a negligence claim against Mainline was lodged by the Popes — separate from an assault and battery claim — which should make available the entire $1-million liability coverage that Cincinnati Specialty sold to Mainline, according to court records.
Due to Murphy’s ruling, the Popes’ wrongful-death case in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court has been indefinitely postponed.
The federal insurance dispute case has moved into the discovery phase and both sides will exchange information to help clarify issues in dispute, such as what Mainline and Tabu reasonably expected Cincinnati Specialty would cover in their insurance policy.
In related news, Pope’s alleged killer, Kenneth Frye, remains free while the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decides whether he can be charged with third-degree murder. The Pennsylvania Superior Court said he could be charged with third-degree murder, but Frye is appealing that decision in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
None of the attorneys involved in the insurance coverage dispute had any comment for this story.