The Environmental Protection Agency has found that Chinese-made drywall, suspected of causing serious problems in homes in Florida, Louisiana and several other states, contains three materials not found in US-manufactured wallboard. The testing was done at the request of Senators from Florida and Louisiana, where investigations have been launched into complaints from homeowners whose drywall […]

Two Syracuse, NY contractors have been sentenced to jail for asbestos removal jobs that contaminated homes and businesses and even resulted in a Superfund cleanup. A federal judge also ordered the men to pay over $969,000 in restitution. The contractors pleaded guilty to violations of the Clean Air Act and other crimes relating to asbestos […]

A federal judge in Massachusetts approved a settlement between two insurers and the family of a former college football coach who died of Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2004. The family claimed in a 2005 lawsuit that a contractor who resurfaced the floor of the field house, which contained the coach’s office, used chemicals alleged to […]

A settlement in California was reached in a group of lawsuits filed by nearly 200 people claiming to have been injured by asbestos and other dangerous materials that were released into the air during a courthouse remodeling. The primary defendants were two construction management companies, who also faced criminal indictments as a result of asbestos […]

The construction manager of a construction, renovation and expansion project for a food distribution center hired an insured to construct and install a new refrigeration system at the facility. The insured was cutting a section of pipe when approximately 50 pounds of ammonia was released as a gaseous cloud inside the facility. It took over […]

XL Insurance’s insured, a mechanical contractor, was retained as a subcontractor during construction of a medical center.  The insured subcontracted the underground storage tank (UST) installation, fuel line connections to the existing building, and associated engineering work to another contractor.  Part of that subcontracted work included removal of soil that was initially placed over the […]