Article ID: 73430ad3722820c91fa4db2385ea9cbd1f4fada89f566fb81e7fd9e2e549a038
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URL: https://www.businessinsurance.com/court-limits-scope-of-pollution-exclusion-in-herbicide-case/
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Court limits scope of pollution exclusion in herbicide case - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Court limits scope of pollution exclusion in herbicide case by Gavin Souter Asbestos & Environmental , P/C Insurers The Travelers Cos. Feb 19, 2026 Travelers must defend Syngenta Crop Protection in a group of lawsuits tied to the herbicide paraquat, a Delaware court ruled. In Syngenta Crop Protection LLC v. Travelers Casualty and Surety Company , the Delaware Superior Court narrowly interpreted a pollution exclusion in some of the disputed policies. The dispute centers on more than 10,000 personal injury lawsuits alleging that paraquat exposure caused Parkinson’s disease and kidney damage. Syngenta, the successor to ICI Americas, sought coverage under liability policies issued by Travelers Casualty and Surety Company providing coverage between 1974 and 1980. Travelers must defend six test cases used to evaluate coverage because the complaints allege bodily injury during the policy periods and could therefore fall within coverage, the court ruled in a Jan. 30 decision that was unsealed Wednesday. Travelers argued that a pollution exclusion in the earlier policies, from September 1974 to September 1977, bars coverage. The court, however, ruled that the exclusion applied to traditional environmental pollution exposures, not to those arising from a product’s normal use. “The suggestion that paraquat traveling inches from a spray nozzle to a user’s body is excluded simply because it briefly traversed the ‘atmosphere’ is inconsistent with a reading of this provision as a whole,” the court wrote. Travelers did win on another issue. Under later policies, from September 1977 to September 1980, defense costs count toward policy limits, meaning legal fees paid by the insurer reduce remaining coverage and could eventually end Travelers’ duty to defend once the limits are exhausted, the court ruled. Travelers declined to comment. Late last year, the court refused to move the case to London. 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