Vermont Couple Sues Homeowners Insurer in Bedbug Case

A Vermont couple who reached a $450,000 settlement with the state after saying their home was made uninhabitable when it was sprayed for bedbugs with a banned pesticide is now suing their insurance company.

Neil and Patricia Whitney of Rutland say Vermont Mutual Insurance Co. has refused to cover their homeowner policy. The Rutland Herald reports the company denied their claim because it doesn’t cover pollution in homes such as the “discharge, dispersal, seepage, migration, release or escape of pollutants.”

The lawsuit says the pollution exemption doesn’t apply because “it was intended primarily to exclude coverage for traditional environmental pollution rather than all injuries from toxic substances.”

The Whitneys say they are entitled to reimbursement since they were forced to leave their home after the April 2013 spraying.