Source: http://www.businessweek.com, October 22, 2013 By: Paul M. Barrett One of the many remarkable things about the 20-year-old legal campaign to hold Chevron (CVX) responsible for contamination of the rainforest in Ecuador is that the campaign persists at all. Who’s paying for it? Before I get to that question, some background: Chevron is in the […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, October 16, 2013 By: Wiley Rein LLP Applying Louisiana law, a federal district court has held that, where an underlying complaint alleges injury exclusively arising from defective architectural design, a professional services exclusion bars coverage. Wisznia Co. v. Gen. Star Indem. Co., Civ. A. No. 11-2657 (E.D. La. Sept. 27, 2013). The insured […]

Source: http://myfox8.com, October 20, 2013 By: Winston-Salem Journal On her way to school, Annie Brown climbed the steep hills that now stand anonymously below the surface of Belews Lake, a man-made body of water in Stokes County with 88 miles of shoreline. Brown, 63, saw Duke Energy build the earthen dam in the early 1970s […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, October 18, 2013 By: John O’Connor and Theodore N. Nemeroff, Steptoe & Johnson LLP Noxious fumes emitted from defective drywall are “pollutants” for purposes of applying total pollution exclusions in commercial general liability (CGL) policies, according to a recent decision by a federal court in Mississippi. Based on this conclusion, the United States […]

Source: http://www.constructionexec.com, October 2013 By: Jeff Cavignac An effective construction insurance program requires the dovetailing of several different policies in order to protect each project stakeholder. General liability and workers’ compensation are critical elements of insuring a construction project, but the keystone is builders risk coverage. Builders risk, often called “course of construction,” is a […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, October 8, 2013 By: Philip L. Comella and William R. Schubert, Seyfarth Shaw LLP California is the most recent state to pass a new, comprehensive statute with which to regulate the hydraulic fracturing industry. The California statute is making headlines, and for a good reason: California contains an estimated two thirds of the […]

Source: The Hamilton Spectator (Ontario, Canada), October 16, 2013 Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com Could a similar pipeline rupture happen here? Opponents and proponents of Enbridge’s Line 9 plan are sharply divided. The National Energy Board will hear from both sides as hearings continue this week in Toronto. Rick Frey keeps a watchful eye on the metal […]

Source: http://www.ibamag.com, October 16, 2013 By: Caitlin Bronson Producers may need to reevaluate how they sell commercial general liability policies to certain clients in the wake of a legal case involving the common absolute pollution exclusion. Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co. failed to convince a Colorado state court this week that defective Chinese drywall claims made […]

Source: http://www.lexology.com, October 15, 2013 By: Brian Margolies, Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP In its recent decision in Prestige Properties, Inc. v. National Builders and Contractors Ins. Co., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146738 (S.D. Miss. Oct. 10, 2013), the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi had occasion to consider the […]

Source: http://www.standard.net, October 16, 2013 By: Dana Rimington A problem may be lurking beneath the surface of farmland soil, and farmers are worried. The problem, they say, is contaminants that are being sent into storm drains and eventually reach farm irrigation ditches. Farmers pay a high price if they discover their edible crops have been […]

Source: http://www.claimsjournal.com, September 30, 2013 By: Burke Coleman Coverage for defective construction claims under commercial general liability (CGL) policies remains an important and frequently contested issue, and the last year has seen significant developments on the issue. Courts have taken varying approaches to the question and applied different parts of the CGL policy as they […]

Source: http://www.mondaq.com, October 14, 2013 By: Robert S. Sanoff, Foley Hoag LLP The battle over the scope of the absolute pollution exclusion in general liability policies continues to be fought in the context of defective drywall manufactured in China. An earlier blog entry discussed a Virginia court that had concluded that there was no coverage […]