A federal judge in the Western District has reversed his own previous ruling after determining that the power to rescind workers' compensation coverage lies exclusively with Pennsylvania's state workers' compensation system.

U.S. District Judge Kim Gibson of the Western District of Pennsylvania's ruling came in American Builders Insurance v. Custom Installations Contracting Services, an insurance dispute relating to an injured roofer who plummeted 25 feet to the ground.

In undoing his previous ruling rescinding coverage, Gibson said insurance companies have an available state remedy to rescind workers' compensation coverage and it would therefore be improper to allow them to file parallel actions in federal court.