PFAS in Focus: Show-Me Insights From Chris Wieberg, Missouri Department of Natural Resources - Reflections on Water Podcast
[Podcast] Catching Up on Canadian Environmental Regulation
PFAS: Increasing Regulations and Managing Legal Liability
EPA Plan Changes PFAS Outlook For Companies, Regulators
2BInformed: The Future of Fluoride in Drinking Water, the New TSCA Fees Rule, and the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 5
The Great Green North: A Discussion on Canada’s Environmental Regulations
Forever Chemicals: What They are and What is being Done to Minimize Their Impact
What are PFAS and Why Should We Care?
S.K.A.V., L.L.C. v. Indep. Specialty Ins. Co., 103 F.4th 1121 (5th Cir. 2024) Fifth Circuit predicts that, as amended, a Louisiana statute (Revised Statute § 22:868)* prohibiting certain insurance contracts from depriving...more
The United States (US) has seen an explosion of litigation in recent years relating to perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), referred to by some as “forever chemicals” because they are slow to degrade and can...more
Some jurisdictions consider the ISO-form "bodily injury" definition to be ambiguous as to whether emotional distress requires physical harm to be bodily injury. Many insurers have amended bodily injury to expressly require a...more
This is the third in a series of articles published by the Product Liability and Complex Torts group at Nilan Johnson Lewis, P.A., for product manufacturers as they prepare to respond to PFAS regulatory demands and mitigate...more
In our January insurance update, we include three state cases addressing some less common situations. It’s not often that a pollution exclusion is interpreted in the context of an auto policy. But the South Dakota Supreme...more
The United States District Court (M.D. Florida) (“Court”) addressed in a June 23rd Order an insurance coverage issue involving a petroleum release from an underground storage tank (“UST”). See L. Squared Industries, Inc. v....more
In my last blog, I discussed the seminal ruling in Chisholm’s-Village Plaza, LLC v. Travelers Insurance Co., et al.; No. 2:20-cv-00920-JB-KRS, in which the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico analyzed...more
Since mid-2022, North Carolina, California, Wisconsin and Illinois each have sued primary and secondary manufacturers of PFAS and PFAS-containing products for alleged environmental damage caused by the distribution of their...more
PFAS, also known as Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances can be found in numerous industrial products. In South Carolina, United States District Court Judge Gergel presides over the PFAS multidistrict litigation (MDL). The MDL...more
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, have served as a key component in numerous industrial and consumer products for decades. These “forever chemicals,” which have been associated with environmental...more
LEAVES DOOR OPEN ON WHETHER THE PRESENCE OF COVID-19 VIRIONS IS DIRECT PHYSICAL LOSS OR DAMAGE - The Delaware Superior Court recently dismissed an amusement park operator’s bid for property damage insurance coverage for...more
The New York Supreme Court – Appellate Division (Second Department) (“Court”) addressed in an October 20th Decision & Order (“Decision”) alleged damages associated with the remediation of oil contamination. See Bennett v....more
In recent years, Wisconsin generally has been a pro-policyholder jurisdiction when it comes to long-tail environmental coverage cases. That trend continues with a decision by a Wisconsin appellate court in a case involving...more
In Pitzer College v. Indian Harbor Insurance Company, the California Supreme Court resolved two previously open questions in insurance law: (1) it concluded that the notice-prejudice rule is a fundamental public policy of...more
The latest ruling in the long-running environmental insurance case, Olin Corporation v. Lamorak Ins. Co., was released on April 18, 2018, by Judge Rakoff of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of New York. Judge...more
The New York Court of Appeals ruled last week that if an insurance policy provides for pro rata allocation to determine the insurance coverage responsibility for environmental contamination spanning multiple policy periods,...more
In an action seeking insurance coverage for environmental contamination, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that “all sums” allocation would apply to the policies at issue, and therefore the...more
On July 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided the case of Olin Corporation v. OneBeacon America Insurance Company, an environmental insurance recovery lawsuit. Olin Corporation has filed such lawsuits...more
In H.J. Heinz Co. v. Starr Surplus Lines Ins. Co., No. 16-1447 (3d Cir. Jan. 11, 2017), the Third Circuit affirmed a District Court’s order allowing insurer Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company (“Starr”) to rescind a $25...more
In January 2017, the Second Circuit ruled that policyholders must actually or presumptively give their insurers notice of specific policies under which they seek coverage—mailing a notice of the claim may not be enough....more
A Georgia appellate court has ruled that there is no continuous trigger of coverage for an environmental claim when the subject policy responds to occurrences, not property damage, during the policy period. The insured sought...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The Northern District of Indiana rejected the insurer’s assertion that its pollution exclusion clauses unambiguously included all contaminants. Indiana, unlike other jurisdictions, is pro-insured when...more
In Viking Pump, Inc., et al. v. TIG Insurance Co., et al., 2016 N.Y. LEXIS 1018 (N.Y. May 3, 2016), policyholders scored a victory when New York’s highest court applied “all sums” allocation and vertical exhaustion. The...more
This summer in Nicholas Petroleum, Inc. v. Mid-Continent Cas. Co., 2015 WL 4456185, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 7489 (Tex.App., Jul. 21, 2015), a Dallas panel of Texas’ intermediate level appellate court rejected policyholder...more
More and more excess insurers are taking the position that a policyholder which settles with primary or low level excess insurers for less than the full amount of the policy limits has waived its right to obtain coverage from...more