On December 19, Jeff Casale reported on GREAT AMERICAN INSURANCE CO. of CINCINNATI that has refused to pay damages to the families of families of three people killed in 2007 in a Texas office building fire. http://www.businessinsurance.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?post_date=2008-12-19&id=14845
The reason for the refusal to pay? The POLLUTION EXCLUSION: The Fire didn't kill them it was the smoke.
A US District Court in Houston will hear the case.
As consumers, watch out for this one. Smoke and soot are the traditionally intended elements that are covered by the pollution exclusion, but is it fair? NO. There are a slew of cases that tread carefully on applying the pollution exclusion because insurance companies DON'T EVER WANT TO PAY. In NY the highest court decided NOT to apply the pollution exclusion in the case of Belt Painting Corp. v. TIG.
