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 […]

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of the EPA against the current and former owners of a 25-acre site in Greenwich, Connecticut. The EPA is trying to recover $500,000 in cleanup costs and has proposed selling the site as a way to reimburse the government. The property has had several different owners since the 1980s. […]

A copper mining company in Arizona has agreed to pay $825,000 to settle a federal lawsuit citing them for release of hazardous substances at one of their mining sites. The Environmental Protection Agency reached an agreement with the company requiring the clean up a portion of the mine site after reporting high levels of sulfate […]

Texas’ Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against BP for violating the state’s pollution laws. The civil lawsuit cites 46 releases of pollution at the refinery, including those associated with a 2005 explosion that killed 15 employees and injured 180 others. Unspecified monetary damages are sought for each day each violation occurred, in addition to […]

One of thirteen companies named in a 2005 lawsuit claiming the over-application of poultry litter is responsible for contamination in the one-million-acre Illinois River watershed has proposed to pay $120,000 to settle. The settlement has been challenged by the remaining twelve companies, who are demanding clarification on how that figure was determined and how the […]