Source: http://www.mondaq.com, August 28, 2015 By: Michael H. Sampson and Caitlin R. Garber, Reed Smith A recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York has, according to published news reports, been responsible for the death of 12 people. According to those same reports, more than 100 other people have become ill as a result of […]

Source: Buffalo News, August 30, 2015 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com In March of last year, a federal judge called Tonawanda Coke’s environmental record “singularly inexcusable” and fined the company $24 million. A year later, Tonawanda Coke is back in court but, this time, it’s the company seeking cash. The Town of Tonawanda manufacturer, in a recently […]

Source: http://www.smithcurrie.com By: Joseph Young The United States Supreme Court ruled nearly a century ago that a contractor is not responsible for consequences of defects in the plans and specifications when that contractor is bound to build according to plans and specifications prepared by the owner. U.S. v. Spearin, 248 U.S. 132 (1918).  This principle […]

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO), August 20, 2015 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Officials in charge of cleaning up pollution left over from the country’s early nuclear weapons program say there’s radioactive contamination in several residential yards that back up to Coldwater Creek. The Army Corps of Engineers confirmed Wednesday that it had discovered what it described […]

Source: http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca, August 20, 2015 The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled partly against four commercial insurance carriers, in a disputed claim on a course–of-construction policy, arising during construction on a hospital in Victoria. The insurers must pay $8.5 million to the contractor, as a result of a subcontractor placing concrete slabs that were […]

Source: http://journaltimes.com, August 18, 2015 By: Michael Burke More than nine years after a cancer-causing dry-cleaning chemical was found at a north side strip center, the building has been razed to allow a soil and groundwater cleanup to begin. The strip center in the 3900 block of North Main Street included a longtime dry-cleaning shop. […]

Source: http://minnesota.cbslocal.com, August 19, 2015 A Robbinsdale lake is contaminated after a contractor accidentally released cement grout into a storm sewer Wednesday. Crystal city officials say the accident happened during work on a water main project on County Road 9. The contractor for the Joint Water Commission tried to contain the grout, but residents report […]

Source: http://www.ecori.org, August 19, 2015 The owner/operators and parties responsible for hazardous substance disposal at the Landfill & Resource Recovery Superfund site have agreed to perform and pay for an investigation and study to evaluate the extent of, and clean-up options for, contaminated groundwater at the site. Until 2014, groundwater samples collected in the monitoring […]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer, August 18, 2015 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com The Delaware County agency responsible for treating sewage from systems that serve 500,000 area residents has agreed to pay nearly $1.4 million for letting pollutants seep into the Ridley Creek, Chester Creek and the Delaware River. In a lawsuit filed last month, the Delaware County Regional […]

Source: http://www.info.gibsonins.com/blog, August 19, 2015 By: Gibson Insurance Pollution liability should not be overlooked. Claims, and the costs associated with those claims, can be expensive. They can test the financial stability of even the best of companies. Standard commercial general liability policies will often exclude coverage for the escape of pollutants and the associated clean-up […]

Source: http://www.bradenton.com, August 19, 2015 By: Matt M. Johnson Attorneys representing Manatee County Port Authority have filed a $2 million complaint against a Chicago insurance company they say failed to pay the port for losses sustained from a toxic spill in 2011. Filed in the 12th Judicial Circuit Court in Manatee County, the suit alleges […]

Source: http://www.jdsupra.com, August 14, 2015 By: Ashley Harrison Sakakeeny, Carlton Fields Jorden Burt A mason who performed work on a residential project was notified in 2006 that cracks had developed in his work.  Several months later, the mason purchased a commercial general liability policy that expressly excluded coverage for property damage, if an insured “knew […]