The Pollution Exclusion Saga Continues: Does It Apply to Indoor Releases?

January 1998
Citation:
28
ELR 10021
Issue
1
Author
Lisa G. Youngblood and Thomas K. Bick

Editors' Summary: This Article addresses how courts have applied the sudden and accidental and absolute pollution exclusions of insurance policies to indoor air pollution claims. The authors focus on how a majority of the courts have found that the pollution exclusions do not preclude coverage for damages that result from the release of pollutants to the indoor environment. The authors first discuss the types of claims that are associated with indoor air pollution and then go on to provide general information about the sudden and accidental and the absolute pollution exclusions. The authors then examine how the courts have applied the two pollution exclusions in the context of indoor air pollution. The authors point out that although the courts have reached their conclusions through differing analyses, their conclusions have been surprisingly similar.

Lisa G. Youngblood is a senior associate at the Atlanta, Georgia, office of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP. Her practice includes a variety of transactional work. Superfund and other toxic tort litigation, insurance coverage counseling and litigation, and regulatory compliance counseling. Ms. Youngblood has lectured and published articles on topics ranging from environmental due diligence, the Georgia Hazardous Site Response Act, and insurance coverage for environmental claims.

Thomas K. Bick is a partner in the Environmental and Natural Resources Practice Group in the Washington, D.C., office of Kilpatrick Stockton LLP. He has over 17 years of experience in environmental counseling and litigation, and representing policyholders in environmental insurance coverage disputes.

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The Pollution Exclusion Saga Continues: Does It Apply to Indoor Releases?

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