RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

February 2007

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Fourth District Court Decides that Disputed Factual Issue Remains for Insurance Coverage under “Sudden And Accidental” Exception to Pollution Exclusion Clause
State of California v. Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, et al., ___Cal.App.4th ___

In the recurring disputes over insurance coverage for discharges of pollutants to groundwater, the California Court of Appeal for the Fourth District, found that there is a dispute in the facts as to whether a discharge of pollutants is covered by an insurance policy under the “sudden and accidental” exception to the pollution exclusion in such policy. The case was remanded to the trial court to resolve the dispute after the trial court had granted summary judgment to the insurance company in a suit brought by the State of California. The cout must now conduct a trial on the question of whether the discharge was sudden and accidental and thus covered under the policy.