Definition of "Pollution exclusion"

Glenda Janczewski real estate agent

Written by

Glenda Janczewskielite badge icon

EXP Realty LLC

Liability insurance exception for pollution coverage that is not both sudden and accidental from the insured's standpoint. As a result of the damage suits from such incidents as the chemical pollution at Love Canal, insurance companies began to modify pollution coverage in their liability policies in the 1970s. First, companies changed coverage to apply only if pollution was "sudden and accidental," rather than "gradual." But some courts ruled that "sudden and accidental" could encompass several years of pollution problems. Consequently, the insurance services office (ISO) introduced a new comprehensive general liability insurance (CGL) policy in 1985 (replaced today by the commercial general liability form) that excluded coverage for nearly all types of pollution damage, leaving only limited liability coverage for pollution originating away from an insured's premises.

image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Insurance Terms

Coverage for shippers of certain radioactive materials, such as medical or commercial isotopes, for direct loss or damage by radioactive contamination; does not cover transport of ...

Coverage for a practicing physician, surgeon, or dentist, when bodily injury, personal injury, and/or property damage is incurred by a patient and the patient sues for injuries and/or ...

Part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that permits medicare recipients to select coverage among various private health care plans to include HMOS, PPOS, POINT-of-SERVICE (POS), MEDICAL ...

Insured sum paid regularly to a married partner (usually a wife but sometimes a husband) of a retired worker. There are several forms: The Federal Retirement Equity Act mandates a spouse's ...

Type of excess of loss reinsurance in which the insurance company (cedent) cedes its known loss revenues to its reinsurer. ...

Coverage for liability exposure resulting from the activities of a business; includes: direct liability acts of the business resulting in damage or destruction of another party's property ...

Same as term Common Disaster Clause: wording in life insurance policies to determine the order of deaths whenthe insured and the beneficiary die in the same accident. For example, if the ...

Supplemental coverage written into or endorsed onto many business and personal liability policies. Covers medical costs and loss of income of persons injured on an insured's property, ...

Employee benefit insurance plan whose objective is to provide the retired employee with life insurance. This group life insurance product is composed of two basic parts: annually renewable ...

Popular Insurance Questions