The absolute pollution exclusion: It does not stop at the door

Abstract

A growing area of insurance coverage jurisprudence involves the application of the “absolute”; pollution exclusion in an indoor setting. As environmental coverage disputes expanded from outdoor releases of industrial wastes to indoor releases of products and by‐products, courts were less than uniform in their application of the exclusion. However, while policyholders have continued to argue that the pollution exclusion is ambiguous or that its terms suggest that the exclusion applies only in “environmental”; or “industrial”; settings, those assertions are increasingly falling on deaf ears. As courts are recognizing with increasing frequency, the absolute pollution exclusion contains no language limiting its scope to industrial or environmental settings, and it applies with equal force indoors and outdoors.