Case Briefs

In Restoration Risk Retention Group v. Selective Way Insurance Co., the New Jersey Appellate Division held that a commercial general liability (“CGL”) insurer owed no coverage for property damage caused by the policyholder's mold remediation work because its policy contained a Fungi and Bacteria exclusion. A-1975-10T1, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 2587 (App. Div. Oct. 12, 2011). The policyholder, a mold remediation specialist, faced potential liability for allegedly deviating from a customer's remediation plan by using Sporicidin. Id. at *4. The policyholder's pollution liability insurer acknowledged its coverage obligations, and sued the policyholder's CGL carrier to compel coverage. Id. at *5. The CGL insurer denied coverage on the basis of its policies' Fungi and Bacteria exclusion, which provides that its insurance does not apply to: (a) “'property damage' which would not have occurred, in whole or in part, but for the actual, alleged or threatened inhalation of, ingestion of, or presence of any 'fungi' or bacteria on or within a building or structure” (regardless of whether any other cause “contributed concurrently or in any sequence” to such damage); and (b) loss “arising out of ' abating, cleaning up, removing, containing, treating, detoxifying, neutralizing, remediating, or disposing of ' 'fungi' or bacteria, by any insured.” Id. at *6-7.