Acknowledgement to XL Environmental THE CLAIM An XL insured chemical manufacturer received rail cars of sodium hydroxide on its rail spur, located on its property. While performing offloading operations, a large release of sodium hydroxide from a rail car occurred. The release was caused when a 2 inch hose dislodged from its connection coupling. More […]

A 24 year old Olympia man settled a dangerous-highway-design lawsuit against the Washington State Department of Transportation for $2 million. The man was critically injured when his motorcycle hit a car turning left onto the controversial intersection at Lynch Road and SR 101 near Shelton. After two months in the hospital and 15 surgeries, the […]

A manufacturer of cast iron pipe was fined $8 million for dozens of environmental violations and lying about numerous safety violations at its plant along the Delaware River. The company is under federal monitor for a four-year probationary period. Prosecutors sought a maximum fine of $15 million for the company, which was convicted in 2006 […]

A lawsuit accuses a tannery of contaminating farmland with a chemical that caused brain-tumors in residents of a Missouri town.  The tannery is alleged to have used hexavalent chromium to remove hair from hides, and then providing the resulting waste product to area farmers to use as fertilizer. The lawsuit claims thousands of tons of […]

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing to fine a chemical company $121,500 for a toxic leak that led to an acid cloud forcing hundreds of western Pennsylvania residents to evacuate. OSHA reports that the company committed 27 serious safety violations when 3,300 pounds of oleum leaked when a transfer tank overflowed because […]

The family of a 10-year-old girl who died in a 2006 tornado is blaming a Minnesota homebuilder for the child’s death. In a wrongful death lawsuit in County District Court, the family claims poor construction, not a tornado, is to blame for the girl’s death. The family maintains that the girl’s death might have been […]

The insurer that issued the performance bond for a portion of the troubled Interstate-84 construction in Connecticut will pay $17.5 million to settle claims involving installation of defective drains. The payment from the insurer on behalf of the primary contractor for the project will allow the state to begin repairing the defective drains along a […]

Fifty-nine of 74 private water wells in Oklahoma have tested positive for total coliform bacteria, a group of bacteria that indicate environmental pollution. In addition, 17 of those 59 wells tested positive for E. coli, according to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).  The town suffered a deadly E. coli outbreak that is suspected to […]

A Scottsdale, Arizona woman was awarded $3.3 million in a suit she filed after mold in her apartment building left her permanently disabled.  The woman moved to an upscale apartment complex in Scottsdale in 2000 and within two years became ill.  The 47-year-old moved out after learning about the mold contamination from neighbors.  The building owners […]

Contradicting the National Transportation Safety Board’s report that blamed too-thin gusset plates for the Aug. 1, 2007, collapse of the Minneapolis Interstate 35W bridge, an independent analysis concluded that rusted, frozen roller bearings were pivotal in the tragedy that killed 13 people and injured 145.  The roller bearings prevented thermal expansion and caused a truss chord to fail, […]

Real estate owners, developers, and investors face many issues during property transactions. The expectation is that these properties will provide a profitable income. However, a pollution condition can wipe out any development or investment monies in a nanosecond. That’s why the real estate community relies on XL’s Pollution and Remediation Legal Liability (PARLL) policy. XL […]

An XL insured purchased a property formerly used as an independent testing facility for a wide range of aerospace, military and commercial purposes. The insured’s intention was to re-sell the property to a developer for residential housing. Litigation was filed by more than 90 nearby residents claiming bodily injury and property damage as a result […]