Court tells insurers to pay for dioxin cleanup

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has joined the growing number of courts holding that insurers must reimburse policy-holders for costs incurred in cleaning up Superfund sites. In an opinion written by Judge A. Raymond Randolph, the three-judge court holds that liability for environmental cleanup costs quite naturally fits the common and ordinary understanding of "damages" covered by comprehensive general liability policies. The case involves Independent Petrochemical Corp., which in 1971 agreed to help its customer, Northern Pharmaceutical & Chemical Co. (NEPACCO), dispose of dioxin-contaminated waste. Independent hired a private contractor, Russell M. Bliss, to get rid of 20,000 gal of waste. The waste, mixed with oil, ended up sprayed over various sites in eastern Missouri. This in turn led to the federal buyout of the whole town of Times Beach, and spending of millions of dollars by the federal government and the state of Missouri to clean up the mess. ...