Menz Bonner Komar & Koenigsberg LLP Secures Dismissal of Environmental Coverage Claims Involving Petroleum Spill

In June 2015, the New York Supreme Court granted MBKK's motion to dismiss an insured’s coverage action, declaring that the Firm’s insurance client was not obligated to defend or indemnify a heating and cooling company with respect to two underlying actions seeking damages for extensive petroleum contamination at a residence resulting from a furnace explosion. Wilson Bros. Heating & Cooling, Inc. v. Hartford Fire Ins. Co., No. 5096-14 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Albany Co., June 16, 2015). The insured had argued that its insurance policies provided coverage insofar as the underlying claims at issue included allegations of negligence and breach of contract relating to the improper rendition of services. Nevertheless, the court agreed with MBKK that all of the allegations of wrongdoing against the insured arose out of its response to the petroleum contamination and thus fell wholly within the plain language of the pollution exclusions contained in the policies.