Source: http://www.gfmag.com, June 6, 2014 By: Paula L. Green The threat of corporate environmental liability incidents is increasing as new regulations—and new risks—take hold. Doing one’s homework may be the best insurance for risk managers aiming to protect their corporate assets against an expanding array of environmental risks. These hazards may be as perennial as […]

Source: http://www.sanluisobispo.com, June 9, 2014 By: Michael Doyle The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a blow to North Carolina families trying to sue over groundwater contamination at a big Marine Corps base. In a technical decision with real-world consequences, the court upheld North Carolina’s limits on how long people have to bring certain pollution-related lawsuits. […]

Source: http://www.businessinsurance.com, June 9, 2014 By: Judy Greenwald The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday held that plaintiffs were time-barred in a pollution case from pursuing their claims under the Comprehensive Environmental Response compensation and Liability Act of 1980, more commonly known as Superfund. At the heart of the high court’s 7-2 ruling in CTS Corp. […]

Source: http://www.thetimesherald.com, June 9, 2014 By: Richard Wolf, USA Today Victims of contaminated water that wasn’t discovered for decades lost their effort to sue polluters at the Supreme Court on Monday in a case that could set back thousands of former Marines and their families with similar claims. The justices ruled 7-2 that North Carolina’s […]

Source: http://www.northjersey.com, June 10, 2014 By: Jeff Green The pharmaceutical giant Hoffmann-La Roche says Clifton may be liable to pay more than $10 million for a cleanup of groundwater contaminants that have been leaking through a decaying sewer line underneath the company’s facility. A Roche-funded analysis of the sewer in April revealed “significant” amounts of […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, May 30, 2014 By: George B. Hall, Jr., Phelps Dunbar LLP The Alabama Supreme Court withdrew a September 2013 opinion addressing coverage for faulty work in a construction defect case and reversed its earlier decision on the meaning of “occurrence” in that context. Owners Ins. Co. v. Jim Carr Homebuilder, LLC, 2014 WL 1270629 […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, June 5, 2014 By: Lane Powell PC A party faced with strict liability under the Washington Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) for the costs of cleaning up environmental contamination often has insurance that might apply, but a lingering question has been at what point is the party’s insurer obligated to defend? The Washington […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, June 5, 2014 By: Gregory T. Hanson, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP On May 7, the California Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Beacon Residential Community Assn. v. Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill LLP, a case that will have a huge impact on design professional liability in California when third-party purchasers sue a designer alleging […]

Source: http://www.law.com, June 9, 2014 By: Barbara Reeves Neal and Kenneth C. Gibbs There is much that can go wrong in any large construction project:  improper installations, defective products, errors and omissions made by designers, unexpected site conditions—the list is long.  Insurance coverage or a performance bond often means the difference between compensating injured parties […]

Source: http://www.godanriver.com, June 8, 2014 If coal ash were a person, it would need a really good psychiatrist to treat a classic case of schizophrenia. Is this power-plant byproduct the “toxic sludge” so threatening to the state’s ground water, streams and lakes? Or is it the potentially beneficial substance Charlotte coal ash expert John Daniels […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, June 4, 2014 By: Jon M. Ludwig, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP Recent decisions made in the Las Vegas CityCenter complex litigation confirm that “contract is king” in assessing commercial design professionals’ liability for faulty plans and inspections. The main dispute in the litigation involves the alleged defective construction of Harmon Tower.  During […]

Source: http://www.timesherald.com, June 4, 2014 By: Frank Otto Township residents voiced their frustrations and concerns with contaminated groundwater affecting their homes at Tuesday night’s board of supervisors meeting. The discussion began as part of a public hearing on an ordinance regarding 24 properties which were tapped by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to be […]