{"id":895030,"date":"2018-10-10T11:56:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T17:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=895030"},"modified":"2018-10-10T11:56:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-10T17:56:28","slug":"california-court-holds-no-coverage-pollution-policy-structural-improvements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/california-court-holds-no-coverage-pollution-policy-structural-improvements\/","title":{"rendered":"California Court Holds No Coverage Under Pollution Policy for Structural Improvements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Margolies | Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry<\/a> | September 13, 2018<\/p>\n

In its recent decision in\u00a0Essex Walnut Owner L.P. v. Aspen Specialty Ins. Co<\/i>., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138276 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 15, 2018), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California had occasion to consider the issue of a pollution liability insurer\u2019s obligation to pay for the redesign of a structural support system necessitated by the alleged presence of soil contamination.<\/p>\n

Aspen\u2019s insured, Essex, owned a parcel of property it was in the process of redeveloping for commercial and residential purposes.\u00a0 The project required excavation activities in order to construct an underground parking lot, and as part of this process, Essex designed a temporary shoring system comprising tied-in retaining walls in order to stabilize the area outside of the excavation.\u00a0 During the excavation work, construction debris was encountered requiring removal.\u00a0 Aspen agreed to pay for a portion of the costs to remove and dispose the debris under the pollution liability policy it issued to Essex.<\/p>\n

The litigation between the parties concerned unconfirmed debris located outside of the excavated area, which Essex believed caused the shoring system to fail.\u00a0 While Essex did not seek coverage for locating and removing this debris, it nevertheless contended that it was entitled to coverage under its policy to redesign and reimplement the shoring system.\u00a0 Aspen denied coverage for these costs on the basis that the debris outside of the excavated area was not a pollutant, and that in any event, the costs of redesigning the shoring system was not a \u201cclean-up cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court declined to reach the issue of whether the debris qualified as a pollution condition,\u00a0 instead focusing on the question of whether redesigning the shoring system qualified as a \u201cclean-up cost,\u201d defined by the Aspen policy in part as \u201creasonable and necessary expense \u2026 to investigate, abate, contain, treat, remove, remediate, monitor, neutralize or dispose of contaminated soil, surface water or groundwater or other contamination caused by a pollution condition \u2026 .\u201d\u00a0 While Essex argued that the shoring system was necessary to \u201ccontain\u201d or \u201cneutralize\u201d the debris outside of the excavated area, the court disagreed, concluding that the purpose of the shoring system was to provide structural support for the construction project, not to address the debris condition.\u00a0 As the court observed, \u201cAlthough the redesign of the shoring system addressed the instability in the soil that was purportedly due to the debris, the revised shoring system neutralized instability, not contamination of the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Margolies | Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry | September 13, 2018 In its recent decision in\u00a0Essex Walnut Owner L.P. v. Aspen Specialty Ins. Co., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138276 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 15, 2018), the United States District Court for the Northern District of California had occasion to consider the issue of a pollution… Continue reading California Court Holds No Coverage Under Pollution Policy for Structural Improvements<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,9914],"tags":[9895,88,23,10626],"class_list":["post-895030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-defects","category-insurance-coverage","tag-advise-consult","tag-california","tag-insurance-coverage","tag-pollution-policy","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia Court Holds No Coverage Under Pollution Policy for Structural Improvements - 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