Source: https://www.mondaq.com/, August 28, 2025
By: Kenneth Ryan & Thomas Benjamin Boley

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, applying New York law, has determined that an insurer had a duty to defend an insured because a carve-out to the relevant pollution exclusion applied. Town of Harrietstown v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co., 2025 WL 2391758 (N.D.N.Y. Aug. 18, 2025).

The insured municipality operated a regional airport that used aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF), which contained known pollutants per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS). On November 5, 2020, the municipality received a Potentially Responsible Party letter from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) regarding contamination at the airport, which had been designated as a superfund site. The municipality tendered the letter to its insurer seeking coverage for the defense of the regulatory action. Based on the information available at that time, the insurer agreed to defend the municipality subject to a reservation of rights. Read more.