Auto Owners Insurance Co. v. City of Tampa Housing Authority

No. 00-10283 (231 F.3d 1298) (11th Cir. November 1, 2000)

ELR Digest

The court holds that an insurance company is liable for neither indemnification nor defense costs incurred by a housing authority in a suit brought by a mother whose child suffered injuries from lead paint on the walls of the authority's housing complex. The court holds that the pollution exclusion clause bars coverage under the insurance policy. Lead is a "pollutant" under the terms of the policy's pollution exclusion clause. Moreover, the alleged injury, which resulted from the ingestion and inhalation of lead from old and crumbling paint, clearly arose in the manner described in the policy, to wit, through the discharge, dispersal, release, escape, or migration of a pollutant. Thus, the pollution exclusion clause bars coverage under the policy. The court, therefore, affirms the decision of the district court.

The full text of this opinion is available from ELR (3 pp., ELR Order No. L-291).

Counsel for Plaintiff
Matthew C. Scarborough
Caglianone & Miller
605 South Blvd., Tampa FL 33606
(813) 251-8081

Counsel for Defendant
Sarah Holt Dennis
Ketchey & Horan
100 N. Tampa St., Ste. 1900, Tampa FL 33601
(813) 223-9395

[31 ELR 20240]

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]