CONNECTICUT SPECIALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. LOOP PAPER RECYCLING, INC., Defendant-Appellant (Anjanette Howard, Tamika Jackson, Rodney Jackson, Randy Hayes, Brianna Hayes, Camille Samuels, Jennifer Lee, Justine Lee, and Robert Studway, Individually and On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated, Defendants.), 356 Ill. App. 3d 67

Summary

The insured's whole business was the recycling of paper and cardboard, and the cardboard, in particular, contained chemicals that dispersed throughout the neighborhood, allegedly causing injury, when vandals set a fire. The policy contained a total pollution exclusion that explicitly defined pollutants as including materials to be recycled. Since the fire had consumed materials that had not yet been treated, the fact that the insured's whole business dealt with recycling did not prevent the exclusion from operating. The plain language of the contract was enforced. The policy also contained an absolute pollution exclusion for any personal injury damage claims resulting from release of pollutants. The insured argued that the exclusion applied only to traditional environmental accidents, not to the escape of fumes in the course of a different sort of incident. The historical roots of the absolute exclusion defined it as excluding coverage for traditional environmental harms, but the ...