Environmental and Asbestos Claims
Until 40 years ago, claims for personal injury or property damage due to environmental contamination or to exposure to toxic substances were rare; but since then such claims have exploded. It is not at all unusual to see such claims today, asserting that exposure to the pollutant or toxic substance decades ago has now manifested itself through severe and costly injury or pollution, with accompanying remediation duties. Not only are such claims very expensive, but insurance companies changed their policy language after those claims first arose, so as to exclude them from coverage.
But since the claims are often based on exposures as much as half a century ago, it is often possible to bring equally old insurance policies into play, which do not contain the newer exclusions. It is often surprising how old policies or their language can be retrieved and brought to bear. Nossaman has had extensive experience in representing policyholders in these major claim areas.