Smelly Cat – Closely-Divided New Hampshire Supreme Court Addresses Whether Cat Urine Is a Pollutant

Posted on April 29, 2015 by Dick Bennett

Last Friday, New Hampshire’s highest court unanimously held that the pungent aroma of cat urine could constitute physical loss or damage under a property policy. In Mellin v. Northern Security Ins. Co., 2015 WL 1869572, 2015 N.H. LEXIS 32 (N.H., Apr. 24, 2015), it split on whether such a loss was barred by standard pollution exclusion language, however. Three of the five justices (including a specially-appointed retiree) held that the exclusion was ambiguous in nature. The Chief Justice and another member of the court disagreed, labeling the provision “plain and unambiguous” and clearly applicable to preclude coverage for a pervasive cat odor problem. On the TV show “Friends,” Phoebe Buffay used to entertain patrons at the Central Perk coffee shop…

New Jersey Court: Loss of Use – Without More – Can Be “Direct Physical Loss or Damage”

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Dick Bennett

Last month, a New Jersey federal court held that the term “direct physical loss of or damage to” property did not require that the property be physically altered in any permanent way. In Gregory Packaging, Inc. v. Travelers Property Cas. Co., 2014 WL 6675934, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165232 (D.N.J., Nov. 25, 2014), the court determined that an ammonia release that rendered the insured manufacturing plant unusable until the gas had been dissipated “physically transformed the air” within the facility and thereby inflicted direct physical loss or damage to the plant. Gregory Packaging manufactured and sold juice cups, and it was in the process of installing a refrigeration system at a new plant in Newman, Georgia when anhydrous ammonia was…

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Smelly Cat – Closely-Divided New Hampshire Supreme Court Addresses Whether Cat Urine Is a Pollutant

New Jersey Court: Loss of Use – Without More – Can Be “Direct Physical Loss or Damage”