Source: http://xlgroup.com As the United States has slowly recovered from the bursting of the real estate bubble in the late 2000’s, the  acquisition activity by Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) has started to defy the odds. Even with an uptick in interest rates, buying of commercial, office, retail, and industrial properties continued on an upward […]

Source: Trenton Times (NJ), January 15, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com A chemical spill that left 300,000 people in West Virginia unable to drink their water is reviving calls for more stringent regulation of thousands of chemical storage sites in the United States, especially those near water supplies. The Freedom Industries Inc. complex in Charleston that […]

Source: http://www.aspen.co, January 15, 2014 By: Kenneth Cornell We review the oil and gas industry’s flood risk and the potential for environmental losses following catastrophic storms. CATASTROPHE COVER There has been much discussion regarding the increasing frequency and intensity of storms around the world. While both underwriters and insurance buyers are concerned with exposure to […]

Source: http://ca.news.yahoo.com, January 12, 2014 By: Scott Sonner A federal lawsuit accusing the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority of polluting the alpine lake with debris from Fourth of July and Labor Day fireworks says the tourism agency and its contractor should be subject to up to $75 million in fines. Joseph and Joan Truxler of Zephyr […]

Source: http://www.jsonline.com, December 5, 2013 By: Lee Bergquist and Kevin Crowe To paraphrase Shakespeare, would manure by any other name smell as sweet? For the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, that was the question. Here’s the dilemma: Dairy farmers Robert and Jane Falk of West Bend consider the manure produced by their 600-cow herd a valuable […]

Read here about a water ban that has been lifted after a chemical spill contaminated the water supply for days.

Source: http://www.ibamag.com, January 10, 2014 By: Caitlin Bronson The standard take on environmental insurance is that companies only purchase it when required, making it a niche product without a lot of payoff for producers. However, as more companies start to understand their emerging risks—and environmental-related coverage under ageneral liability policies remains in a state of […]

Source: http://shalestuff.com, January 11, 2014 By: Luke Johnson A new study has found that a majority of Americans have very little understanding of the hydraulic fracturing process, and the few that do are roughly split in support and opposition to the unconventional oil and gas extraction process. In a survey conducted in September 2012 by […]

Source: http://www.modbee.com, January 9, 2014 By: J.N. Sbranti Two environmental lawyers are demanding Stanislaus County officials immediately stop issuing new water well drilling permits without first reviewing what impacts they could have on the environment. They also want the county to revoke 61 large irrigation wells approved during the past five months. If Stanislaus officials […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 8, 2014 By: Ruth S. Kochenderfer and Deanna P. Cook, Steptoe & Johnson LLP In Phillips v. Parmelee, No. 2011AP2608, 2013 WL 6818145 (Wis. Dec. 27, 2013) (applying Wisconsin law), the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that an asbestos exclusion in a liability policy barred a duty to defend and indemnify a building […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, December 27, 2013 By: Amy L. Pierce, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP Thirteen years after the complaint was filed, on Monday, December 16, 2013, California Superior Court Judge James P. Kleinberg, in People of the State of California v. Atlantic Richfield Co. et al., Santa Clara Superior Court Case No. 1-00-cv-788657, issued a […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, January 6, 2014 By: Natalie Dubose, Haynes and Boone LLP A variety of businesses from hospitals and hotels to agricultural producers and restaurants may from time to time be faced with the threat of viral or bacterial outbreaks and related claims from third parties. When such outbreaks result in injury to persons or […]