Category: Blog

It was the late 1980s and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“USEPA”) was conducting Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) Searches at landfills throughout the United States. The Superfund had been recently created and there was money to fund this investigative effort so that large corporate “polluters” could be identified and advised of their liability for the property damage their release of pollutants had caused.  Springing up alongside the USEPA’s efforts were the efforts of defense attorneys to enter the administrative law arena to defend their clients against allegations that they either generated or transported pollutants that were released to a waste site or that they owned or operated a site at which pollutants had been released. Continue reading “Small Is A Better Fit: The New Age of Insurance Archeology”

Doing insurance archeology for fifteen years, I have noticed that a good percentage of our clients don’t understand why the insurance companies just won’t reveal their policy histories when asked. I usually remark that if the insurers just volunteered insurance information, guys like me would not have jobs. However, I also am usually asked two related questoins: (1) “Does the insurance company have a duty to disclose coverage?” and (2) “Since insurers keep old policy files, why don’t they voluntarily do policy searches for their insureds?” Continue reading ““It’s my Policy and I want it Now””

The business owner was defending against claims by the state environmental authorities that his operations contaminated the groundwater beneath his former plant site with chlorinated solvents over a period of twenty years in business. His attorney explained that the business owner would have to comply with the states requirements and hire an environmental engineer to investigate and possibly remediate the environmental property damage.  He estimated the cost of these services in his state at approximately $300,000. The attorney suggested to him that his old business insurance policies might provide coverage for the damages and even apply to the attorney’s fees. Continue reading “It Doesn’t Always Take a Policy to Prove Coverage”

The California Supreme Court has made an important ruling that is expected to benefit those dry cleaners, manufacturers, suppliers or others who purchased general liability policies in years past and are faced with property damage or bodily injury claims from the release of pollutants into the environment. In its decision in State v. Allstate Ins. Co., Case No. S149988 (Cal. Sup. Ct., March 9, 2009), the Court ruled that where multiple acts or events cause indivisible damage and at least one such act is a covered event, the insurer must provide coverage for the entire amount of damages. Continue reading “Big Win for California Policyholders”

If you are a company besieged by property damage or product liability claims, you will want to take note of the following: Your old general liability insurance can protect you. But you don’t have your old policies, you say? And your insurance agent has not kept old records?

Consider hiring an insurance archeologist. The insurance archeologist will conduct a search to determine what policies you had back when the damage was happening that provided general liability coverage. Most of these old policies were written to protect against the kinds of perils you now face years later. And they can protect you today in the right circumstances. Continue reading “Specimen Insurance Policies”

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Wisconsin dry cleaners and their attorneys will want to take note of the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in Plastics Engineering Company v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and contact their local insurance archeologist to find their historical business insurance policies. As of January 29, 2009, the potential value of those old business insurance policies to pay for environmental clean ups has greatly increased.

The Supreme Court declared that the all sums method of allocating policy limitswillnow be the law in Wisconsin.The Court ruled that once the policy is triggered, the insurer must fully defend the lawsuit in its entirety and pay all sums up to the policy’s limits. Rejected was the time on the risk policy limit allocation method preferred by Wisconsin courts until now. Time on the risk had limited the value of any single policy to the percentage of the total damages occurring during that policy’s period of effectiveness. Continue reading “New Court Ruling Helps Wisconsin Dry Cleaners”

There has been a landmark decision by the California Court of Appeal that now makes it possible for policyholders (including dry cleaners, chemical manufacturers, waste disposal companies, etc.) to use all the historical insurance policies they can find to defend them against claims for progressive property damage or personal injuries that might have started years ago. Continue reading “California Court Lets You Use All Policies”

Today’s Environmental Compliance Costs: Insurance Archeology for the Laundry Industry

January 2009 issue of Laundry Today

An increasing number of laundries are striving to heighten their ‘green consciousness.’ Many go above and beyond what is necessary for them to maintain environmentally correct facilities. But sometimes, even with the best intentions, a facility can find itself on the wrong side of compliance based upon the actions of companies who previously operated on the land where they are currently located.

Do you know what type of business operated on your business’ property prior to your facility? Could it have been a dry cleaner? A gas station? A paint manufacturer? There are a host of industries that unbeknownst to you could have polluted the ground beneath your current facility. However, as the current owner of the property – you are responsible for any previous pollutants and clean-up costs. Continue reading “Reaching Into the Past to Pay”

A High Court in the United Kingdom has rendered a significant opinion in the asbestos litigation that has clogged that country’s courts for the past several years. Various lower courts had ruled that public liability policies providing coverage for employees contracting mesothelioma were triggered on the date of injury. Different courts differed however over what constituted injury.Was the employee injured on the date he or she inhaled asbestos fibers or on the date that proof of injury actually could be detected? Continue reading “British Asbestos Cases Make More Work for Insurance Archeologists”

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Finding the Money for Environmental Clean Ups In Yesterday’s Business Records

Successful dry cleaners keep a clean shop. Yet in recent years, the tidiest of dry cleaners are discovering that their inclination toward order and cleanliness is having a negative impact on their ability to stay in business.

Shredding and discarding old business records has long been the way to keep storage areas manageable and office areas functional. However, dry cleaners are finding that certain of the old business records they destroyed are the very documents they now need to keep their doors open. Continue reading “Old Gold in the Attic”