I'm Spartacus! No, I'm Spartacus!

In Horace Mann Ins. Co. v. General Star Nat'l Ins. Co., the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Traxler, joined by Judges Niemeyer and District Judge Wilson of the W.D. Va., decided the competing claims of two insurers to the exalted position of the "excess" carrier, and reversed the decision of the District Court (the N.D. W.Va.), in a rare published opinion dealing with purely state law issues that includes a discussion of "the nature and operation of primary and excess liability insurance policies."