An insurance company sued for denying coverage to a law firm hit with a legal malpractice lawsuit is attempting to have the bad-faith litigation moved from the Blair County Court of Common Pleas to federal court.

Defendant Westport Insurance filed a notice of removal to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, based on diversity of jurisdiction. Westport is a Missouri-based company and the plaintiff, the law firm of Hippo, Fleming & Pertile, is based in Altoona.

Additionally, the defendants alleged Gregory G. Morris and Morris Management, the plaintiffs in the underlying legal malpractice suit, were fraudulently joined as defendants in the bad-faith case by the law firm to thwart the federal court's jurisdiction.