BRIEF: Judge rules insurance must pay for turnpike spill
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 11, 2012
Posted on: http://envfpn.advisen.com
An insurance company providing coverage to the trucking company whose vehicle dropped a tar-like goo over the Pennsylvania Turnpike last fall must now cover some of the claims.
U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti ruled on Friday that Hallmark Specialty Insurance Company of Texas must cover all claims against MTS Transport of Stevensville, Md., “except for claims of traditional environmental pollution.”
A tanker truck owned by MTS Transport of Stevensville, Md., leaked asphalt flux, a substance often used in roofing, over a 40-mile stretch of the turnpike from New Castle and the Oakmont service plaza on Nov. 22, damaging an estimated 1,000 vehicles from 16 states. MTS Transport had $1 million in insurance coverage from the Travelers Indemnity Co. of Hartford, Conn., but court filings indicated that was not enough money to cover all of the damage.
MTS Transport wrote in documents filed in U.S. District Court that another company, Hallmark Specialty Insurance Company, provided it with an excess liability policy worth $4 million but that the company refused to pay.
