Environmental Law, Insurance, Civil Remedies

Senate Bill 814 Proposes Sweeping and Retroactive Changes to Environmental Claims Handling in Oregon

by Molly Eckman | Cozen O'Connor on 5/8/2013

On March 13, 2013, the Oregon legislature introduced Senate Bill 814 to create sweeping reforms on environmental claims handling regulations and available remedies for insureds facing liability for cleanup of contaminated...more

Rhode Island Cleans Up Problematic Superfund Precedent That Undermined Federal Settlements

by Thomas Allen, Sheila Harvey, Liz Lord | Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on 3/21/2013

The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has vacated its 2010 summary judgment decision in Ashland Inc. v. GAR Electroforming, 729 F. Supp. 2d 526 (D.R.I. 2010), just days after receiving an amicus memorandum...more

The Intersection of Subrogation and Environmental Law — The Ninth Circuit’s Tyranny of Logic over Common Sense

by Robert S. Sanoff | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 3/20/2013

In a decision that exalts casuistry over common sense, the Ninth Circuit recently held that an insurer who reimbursed $2.4 million in CERCLA response costs to its policyholder had no subrogation rights against the potentially...more

First Circuit Affirms Pro-Rata Damages Verdict in Boston Gas

by Choate Hall & Stewart LLP on 1/29/2013

What you need to know: The US First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s pro-rata, time-on-the-risk allocation of damages from environmental contamination in the long-running Boston Gas case. The court...more

State of California v. Continental Insurance Company, et al.

by Low, Ball & Lynch on 10/12/2012

Insurance Coverage – Stacking of Policy Limits on Progressive & Continuous Loss - California Supreme Court (August 9, 2012) In this decision, the California Supreme Court has ruled for the first time that in a...more

New Jersey Court Denies Reimbursement for Defense Costs

by Cole Schotz on 7/18/2012

In a recent unpublished opinion, a New Jersey Appellate Division court upheld the lower court’s dismissal of an insurance coverage action for environmental contamination. In Spartan Oil Company v. New Jersey...more

7th Circuit Addresses the Nature and Purpose of the Pollution Exclusion

by Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP on 3/14/2012

Scottsdale Indem. Co. v. Village of Crestwood, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5069 (7th Cir. Mar. 12, 2012), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, applying Illinois law, had occasion to consider the nature and...more

BLG Canadian Insurance Law Newsletter - Fall 2011

by Michael Smith on 9/1/2011

Six articles in this edition covering class actions, product liability, Sale of Goods Act implied conditions, spoliation, CGL coverage, pollution exclusions, new civil procedure rules in Ontario concerning experts, police...more

Defendants Win "Round One" of Climate Change Fight in United States Supreme Court

by Richard Faulk on 7/9/2011

In American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut (“AEP”), the United States Supreme Court held that federal common law public nuisance claims seeking injunctive relief against emitters of greenhouse gases...more

Washington Court of Appeals Heralds New Developments in Damages for an Insurer’s Bad Faith Duty to Defend

by Lane Powell PC - Commercial Litigation on 4/13/2011

On April 4, the Washington Court of Appeals issued its decision in Unigard Insurance Company v. Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Company. The case pertains to the scope of damages that may be assessed for an insurer’s bad faith...more

How "Absolute" is the "Absolute Pollution Exclusion"?

by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 12/9/2009

In a recently published decision, Ohio’s Third District Court of Appeals addressed the scope of the so-called “absolute pollution exclusion.” Bosserman Aviation Equipment, Inc. v. United States Liability Insurance Company...more

The Pollution Exclusion

by Melito & Adolfsen on 9/30/2009

Having addressed the meaning of “accidental” in the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion in 1989 in Technicon, it took eight years before the New York Court of Appeals, in a case handled by Melito & Adolfsen and...more

Insurance/Reinsurance and Litigation Alert: California Supreme Court Holds That Escape of Pollutants - Not Deposit - is the...

by Mintz Levin on 3/13/2009

In an important decision further clarifying the application of the “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion and the absolute pollution exclusion as it applies to pollution of a “watercourse or body of water,” the...more