Source: https://www.lockhaven.com/, January 31, 2020 By: Michael Rubinkam Students at three Pennsylvania schools were told to stay home Thursday amid concerns over lead and asbestos contamination, as Pennsylvania State Police investigate what former district officials did to address problems with tainted water. One day after Gov. Tom Wolf unveiled a $1.1 billion plan to help […]

Source: https://www.businessinsurance.com/, January 30, 2020 By: Judy Greenwald An insurer is obligated to defend a contractor in arbitration over a construction project under a provision in its commercial general liability policy, says a federal appeals court, in affirming a lower court ruling. Construction of a luxury apartment complex was plagued with problems from the start, […]

Source: https://whyy.org, January 31, 2020 By: Meir Rinde Megan Murray felt happy when she bought her condo in Kensington. She loved the walkable, up-and-coming neighborhood and was proud she could afford a $320,000 new construction home with high-end finishes. She wasn’t too worried, at first, that the neighbor in the condo next door said there […]

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/, January 30, 2020 3M has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in connection to discharges from a chemical plant in northern Alabama that may not have complied with permit requirements. Michael Roman, the Minnesota-based company’s CEO, announced the subpoena during an investor conference call Tuesday, WHNT-TV reported. The company faced lawsuits and public scrutiny last year after it was accused of releasing chemicals from […]

Source: https://www.clickondetroit.com/, January 30, 2020 By: Karen Drew, Derick Hutchinson The city of Detroit has filed a lawsuit against the two companies behind a dock collapse that spilled contaminated soil into the Detroit River. Officials with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are running their own tests along the river. The dock collapse linked to Detroit Bulk […]

Source: https://www.constructionrisk.com/, January 2020 Does an Additional Insured under a contractor’s commercial general liability (CGL) policy have coverage for claims against the additional insured that aren’t based on allegations of negligent acts or omissions of the named insured contractor? In this decision the court concludes that although the CGL policy doesn’t expressly state that “negligence” […]

Source: https://www.constructionrisk.com/, January 2020 Design-Builder of a bridge sued its engineer subconsultant for costs allegedly attributed to errors in preliminary designs and cost/quantity estimates provided under the terms of a Teaming Agreement. Following a bench trial, the court rejected most of the design-builder’s claims, finding that the contractor was essentially attempting to argue that the […]

Source: The Lowell Ledger (MI), January 29, 2020 Posted on: https://www.advisen.com/ After last week’s announced legal action by the state of Michigan, 3M, DuPont and other manufacturers of PFAS chemicals and their predecessors are facing suits from across the globe. For example, 3M is presently being sued by the government of Guam, among others. Read […]

Source: https://www.wwltv.com/, January 28, 2020 By: Danny Monteverde Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Tuesday said she disagrees with the Hard Rock Hotel developers that they are not to blame for the collapse that killed three people and injured dozen more. “The sole responsibility of this project, of its construction, is the ownership of the site, and […]

Source: https://www.ellwoodcityledger.com/, January 27, 2020 By: Chrissy Suttles Lawyers for Cleveland-based engineering firm URS Corp. Ohio say the company is not responsible for a toxic gas leak that killed two workers at the Bruce Mansfield power plant in 2017. A Cleveland-based engineering firm is not liable for the toxic gas leak that killed two workers […]

Source: https://www.greatamericaninsurancegroup.com/, Environmental Insider, Winter 2020 Be ready when life happens. These industry-trend situations illustrate the variety of environmental exposures that could affect your customers!  Legionella: An apartment complex had multiple confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease. As a result, state and city health departments required an investigation. Unfortunately, the legionella bacteria was confirmed and remediation […]

Source: https://www.greatamericaninsurancegroup.com/, Environmental Insider, Winter 2020 As stated in a previous Environmental Insider article, the environmental insurance industry has experienced an increase in both frequency and severity of claims as coverage has likewise expanded from its genesis in the early 1980s. Underwriters, claims adjusters and insureds face many pollution-related challenges today that had not yet surfaced […]