Category: Blog

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Wisconsin dry cleaners and their attorneys will want to take note of the recent decision by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in Plastics Engineering Company v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and contact their local insurance archeologist to find their historical business insurance policies. As of January 29, 2009, the potential value of those old business insurance policies to pay for environmental clean ups has greatly increased.

The Supreme Court declared that the all sums method of allocating policy limitswillnow be the law in Wisconsin.The Court ruled that once the policy is triggered, the insurer must fully defend the lawsuit in its entirety and pay all sums up to the policy’s limits. Rejected was the time on the risk policy limit allocation method preferred by Wisconsin courts until now. Time on the risk had limited the value of any single policy to the percentage of the total damages occurring during that policy’s period of effectiveness. Continue reading “New Court Ruling Helps Wisconsin Dry Cleaners”

There has been a landmark decision by the California Court of Appeal that now makes it possible for policyholders (including dry cleaners, chemical manufacturers, waste disposal companies, etc.) to use all the historical insurance policies they can find to defend them against claims for progressive property damage or personal injuries that might have started years ago. Continue reading “California Court Lets You Use All Policies”

Today’s Environmental Compliance Costs: Insurance Archeology for the Laundry Industry

January 2009 issue of Laundry Today

An increasing number of laundries are striving to heighten their ‘green consciousness.’ Many go above and beyond what is necessary for them to maintain environmentally correct facilities. But sometimes, even with the best intentions, a facility can find itself on the wrong side of compliance based upon the actions of companies who previously operated on the land where they are currently located.

Do you know what type of business operated on your business’ property prior to your facility? Could it have been a dry cleaner? A gas station? A paint manufacturer? There are a host of industries that unbeknownst to you could have polluted the ground beneath your current facility. However, as the current owner of the property – you are responsible for any previous pollutants and clean-up costs. Continue reading “Reaching Into the Past to Pay”

A High Court in the United Kingdom has rendered a significant opinion in the asbestos litigation that has clogged that country’s courts for the past several years. Various lower courts had ruled that public liability policies providing coverage for employees contracting mesothelioma were triggered on the date of injury. Different courts differed however over what constituted injury.Was the employee injured on the date he or she inhaled asbestos fibers or on the date that proof of injury actually could be detected? Continue reading “British Asbestos Cases Make More Work for Insurance Archeologists”

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Finding the Money for Environmental Clean Ups In Yesterday’s Business Records

Successful dry cleaners keep a clean shop. Yet in recent years, the tidiest of dry cleaners are discovering that their inclination toward order and cleanliness is having a negative impact on their ability to stay in business.

Shredding and discarding old business records has long been the way to keep storage areas manageable and office areas functional. However, dry cleaners are finding that certain of the old business records they destroyed are the very documents they now need to keep their doors open. Continue reading “Old Gold in the Attic”

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Fabricare – September/ October 2008

Insurance archeology is the process of locating and finding historical insurance policies that covered individuals and businesses. Historical insurance can be a huge benefit to drycleaners, as old policies can be used to pay for costs associated with soil and groundwater contamination investigations, legal representation, and even the cleanup of contaminated sites. Continue reading “Insurance Archaeology: What is it and Why is it Beneficial?”

IBJ Article August 25-31, 2008 Vol 29 No. 25
By Scott Olson

Like an archeologist combing through artifacts of the ancient past. O’Neill labors to construct liability insurance policies once considered expired. They often are as valuable as lost treasures-funding expensive environmental investigations or paying product liability defense costs, and ultimately saving corporate and small business policyholders from economic ruin. Continue reading “Claim Digger”

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Wisconsin Fabricare Institute IMPRESSIONS July/August 2008 Issue

As most dry cleaners know, the deadline to enter sites into the Dry Cleaner Environmental Response Fund (DERF) Program is quickly approaching. Simply stated, if soil and groundwater samples are not collected at your site and you have not entered your site into the DERF program by August 30, 2008, you will not be eligible to benefit from the funding mechanism established with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Continue reading “With DERF Deadline Looming, Old CGL Insurance can be Vital Protection”

Looking for an old insurance policy – one your client “was sure” they had but can’t remember where or when? Consider hiring an “insurance archaeologist.”

Who wouldn’t enjoy this scenario: An abandoned commercial property near a city center is used again as a productive commercial location? Or, pollution that seeps into underground water supplies is removed so the water is safe to drink. Continue reading “Old, lost insurance policies? Get yourself an archaeologist”

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As Published in the June Issue of Drycleaners News

How many dry cleaners do you know that own their business and building?  Dry cleaners that thought they had an asset only to find out that it is contaminated and will cost a lot of money to clean-up. 

How many dry cleaners have always followed the law and managed a clean and respectable business, only to learn that the rules they had followed for years have changed and are now more stringent?  Continue reading “Long-tail Liabilities Don’t Go Away”