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?
The Colorado Court of Appeals (Division VI), applying Colorado law, partially affirmed a trial court decision dismissing an action seeking insurance coverage for COVID‑19 related losses. Spectrum Retirement Communities, LLC...more
The increasing volume of litigation involving Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) presents substantial financial and operational uncertainties for the insurance sector. Due to their environmental persistence and...more
Understanding Contents Damage and Contamination After a Wildfire - When dealing with affected personal property (contents) after a wildfire, it is important to understand that each loss location is unique and that there is...more
We have previously written on the evolving risks associated with PFAS—also known as “forever chemicals”—and their implications for policyholders navigating environmental liabilities involving both PFAS and PFAS-related...more
What You Need to Know in a Minute or Less - As the scientific and regulatory landscape surrounding various emerging contaminants shifts, so too do the options that companies can consider taking to minimize and insure against...more
Fire investigators recognize the critical importance of adhering to established protocols and procedures to prevent contamination of samples collected for the purpose of ignitable liquid testing. This testing is frequently...more
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