§17.13 - Personal Injury Coverage in Environmental Pollution Cases

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§17.13 Personal Injury Coverage In Environmental Pollution Cases

The current standard ISO CGL policy form includes personal and advertising injury coverage designated in the form as Coverage B. Personal and advertising injury coverage is separate and distinct from general liability coverage for property damage and bodily injury set forth as Coverage A of the standard CGL policy form. The insuring agreement of the standard CGL form states the personal and advertising injury must be caused by an offense arising out of [your] business ... committed ... during [the] [p]olicy [p]eriod. (Emphasis added.) Thus, personal and advertising injury coverage significantly differs from property damage and bodily injury coverage because the former is offense based as opposed to occurrence (or accident) based. Natl Sur. Corp. v. Immunex Corp., 162 Wn.App. 762, 770, 772, 256 P.3d 439 (2011) (to determine whether coverage exists under Coverage B, we must look to the type of offense that is alleged rather than the nature of the injury), affd, No. 86535-3, 2013 WL 865459, 2013 Wash. LEXIS 155 (Wash. Mar. 7, 2013).

The current standard CGL policy form defines covered personal and advertising injury as injury, including consequential bodily injury arising from one of the offenses listed in the policy. The standard policy forms listed offenses include the following:

wrongful eviction, wrongful entry or invasion of the right of private occupancy of a room, dwelling or premises...