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California High Court Addresses Environmental Cleanup Costs, Specific Policy Language

Ruling in two separate cases seeking coverage for government-ordered cleanup costs, the California Supreme Court on Aug. 29 affirmed that coverage is potentially available under language broader than standard CGL policy language, while coverage is limited to court-ordered money judgments under other nonstandard excess language similar to case law involving policy language requiring a court judgment in a suit for “damages” (Powerine Oil Company Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Central National Insurance Company of Omaha, et al., real parties in interest, No. S113295, Calif. Sup.; 2005 Cal. LEXIS 9547 [Powerine II] and County of San Diego v. ACE Property & Casualty Insurance Co., et al., No. S114779, Calif. Sup.; 2005 Cal. LEXIS 9548).