The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a property must be precisely described for coverage to attach under an environmental liability insurance policy. Milwaukee Metro. Sewerage Dist. v. Am. Int’l Specialty Lines Ins. Co., No. 09-1645 (7th Cir. 03/10/10). The district court had ruled that defendant insurer was required to cover a city sewerage district for more than $226,000 in environmental cleanup costs on a property it had recently purchased. Reversing the district court, the appellate court held that the property’s “description was patently insufficient to communicate to [the insurer] … the property for which the District was seeking environmental liability coverage.” The court found ambiguities as to which of several properties were intended to be covered and that no precise description was ever given to the carrier.
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Seventh Circuit finds carrier properly denied coverage for waste ash cleanup due to insufficient property description
- Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP
- David Erickson and James Neet
- USA
- March 26 2010
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Jennifer Miller
Senior Legal Counsel, Bankwest Business
Bank of Western Australia Ltd