COVID-19 And Pollution Legal Liability Coverage: What To look For In Policy Language

As we grapple with the human and personal effects of COVID-19, the pandemic is forcing companies to closely examine their corporate insurance programs to determine where, if at all, coverage can provide some relief to the economic losses that COVID-19 will cause.

One of the best places to start is by reviewing your pollution legal liability (PLL) policies, which may have been placed recently, or as long as 10 years ago, but which may provide coverage for some elements of loss related to COVID-19.

One distinction of PLL coverage is that, unlike most property policies, there need not be physical damage to the structure or contents of the building for coverage to apply.

To determine if you have coverage under your PLL program, we have outlined several key terms and conditions to help analyze where coverage may be available:

Is COVID-19 a Release of a Pollutant? The threshold question is whether COVID-19 (or any virus) is a pollutant and/or pollution condition under PLL policies.