... Fourth Circuit holds in Federal Case Under Maryland Law.
In Industrial Enterprises, Inc. v. Penn America Insurance Co., 2011 WL 925451 (4th Cir. Opinion Filed Friday, March 18, 2011)(authorized password required to access Westlaw), the Fourth Circuit was confronted with an Insurance Coverage issue for Pollution. The Insurance Coverage Question it faced was whether a standard Comprehensive General Liability Insurance Policy ("CGL") provided Coverage for response costs including defense attorney's fees concerning a CERCLA cleanup.
In other words, did the standard CGL Policy at issue in this case provide Defense Coverage for costs incurred by the Policyholder-Insured in response to an apparent PRP or potentially responsible party letter sent to it by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, to remediate the presence of hazardous substances on the Policyholder's land..
The United States District Judge answered this question "yes" and, on summary judgment, awarded the Policyholder $465,774.50 in defense attorney's fees plus additional, other response costs.
The Fourth Circuit reversed in this case arising under Maryland law, in a split 2-to-1 panel decision:
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Id. at *1. For those facing this and similar Insurance Coverage Questions, this case provides perhaps the most recent addition to a long list of decisions addressing this Question.
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