A recent outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York has, according to published news reports, been responsible for the death of 12 people. According to those same reports, more than 100 other people have become ill as a result of the outbreak, which has been traced to a rooftop cooling tower(s). For better or worse, … Continue Reading
Insurance companies often look to the pollution exclusions in their commercial general liability policies in attempts to exclude coverage for many types of claims. They will try to fit all sorts of things within the definition of "pollutants." Just last Friday, though, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana made that more difficult, offering a common-sense understanding of the term "pollutant." That court found that "under Louisiana law, Legionella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria" - the bacteria which cause Legionnaire's disease - "do not qualify as 'pollutants' within the meaning of [pollution] exclusions."… Continue Reading
