superfund News

Ohio Law Applies in Insurance Dispute over Superfund Remediation Costs

Ohio law must be used to resolve an insurance dispute involving a polluted site in Michigan caused by manufacturing companies based in Ohio and Indiana, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. The 5-2 decision may force Travelers to turn over …

Montana Clinic Files for Bankruptcy Following $6 Million Judgment over False Asbestos Claims

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A health clinic in a Montana town plagued by deadly asbestos contamination has filed for bankruptcy protection after a judge ordered it to pay the government almost $6 million in penalties and damages for submitting false …

Superfund Town’s Health Clinic Accused of Submitting False Asbestos Claims

MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – A major U.S. railroad found liable for spreading hazardous asbestos that killed hundreds of people in a Montana town is trying to convince a federal jury that a local clinic submitted hundreds of asbestos claims for …

S.C. Supreme Ct. Reverses, Finds Insurers Owe Coverage for Pollution

The carriers that insured a Charleston fertilizer plant more than 30 years ago are liable for contamination at the site even though the former property owner who bought the policies did not ask their permission to transfer its right to …

Settlement: Old Toxic Cables to Be Removed From Lake Tahoe

RENO, Nev. (AP) — AT&T’s Pac Bell subsidiary has settled a lawsuit conservationists filed under a U.S. law more typically cited in Superfund cases, agreeing to spend up to $1.5 million to remove 8 miles of toxic telephone cables that …

Pollution Charges: Louisiana Firestone Plant to Pay $4 Million

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A major manufacturer of synthetic rubber, Firestone Polymers LLC, has agreed to pay $4 million in fines and an environmental project and make numerous improvements to settle a long list of state and federal air pollution …

Viewpoint: How Undead Corporations Can Help Fund Oregon’s Environmental Cleanup

We all know that corporations and limited liability companies can die. In actuality, they are dissolved and given time to wind up their affairs, but the point is that after five years following proper notice to potential creditors and other …

Allianz Wins Order Requiring Other Insurers to Contribute to Defense of Asbestos, Pollution Claims

Carriers that insured Freightliner Corp. before it was purchased by Daimler-Benz AG in 1981 — even those that entered into fronting agreements that transferred liability back to the insured — have to contribute to the defense of claims related to …

South Carolina School Reopening Despite Toxic ‘Trash Mountain’ Fire

BEAUFORT, S.C. — A South Carolina elementary is reopening for the first day of school despite a smoldering, toxic fire in a 50-foot trash pile at a nearby recycling center. News outlets report Beaufort County School District decided to open …

Supreme Court to Hear BP Unit’s Dispute over Montana Superfund Site

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to a hear a bid by a unit of British oil major BP Plc to avoid a lawsuit by private landowners in Montana seeking to force the company to pay for …