The appellant insurer appealed a declaration that it had a duty to defend the respondent insured, a contractor, in actions arising from an oil spill.
The insured was retained to remediate the spill but was sued for allegedly failing to clean it up in a timely and proper manner.
The insurer argued that the claims did not fall within the insuring agreement and were excluded by a pollution exclusion clause.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the claims fell within the insuring agreement and that the pollution exclusion clause did not apply because the insured's alleged negligence constituted an independent cause of the loss occurring after the original discharge.
