(Download) "Powerine Oil Co. V. Superior Court Of Los Angeles County" by In the Supreme Court of California * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Powerine Oil Co. V. Superior Court Of Los Angeles County
- Author : In the Supreme Court of California
- Release Date : January 29, 2005
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 107 KB
Description
Powerine Oil Company (Powerine), a now defunct oil refinery, faces liability for certain governmentally imposed cleanup and abatement orders requiring it to remediate soil and groundwater pollution resulting from its past refinery operations at various locations. In Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London v. Superior Court (Powerine Oil Company) (2001) 24 Cal.4th 945 (Powerine I), an earlier writ proceeding in the instant case, we held that the insurer's duty to indemnify Powerine, the insured, for "all sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages" under the wording of the standard comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policy is limited to "money ordered by a court," and does not extend to environmental cleanup costs ordered by an administrative agency pursuant to an environmental statute. (Id. at p. 960.) This conclusion flowed logically both from the literal language of the standard CGL policy, which provides coverage for court-ordered "damages," and from our earlier decision in Foster-Gardner, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. (1998) 18 Cal.4th 857 (Foster-Gardner), which held that the insurer's duty to defend the insured in a "suit seeking damages" under the wording of the same standard CGL policy is likewise limited to civil suits prosecuted in court. (Id. at pp. 878-888.)