This month, the Georgia Supreme Court held that a CGL policy did not provide coverage for brain damage to a child as a result of exposure to lead paint in a rental home.
The suit arose out of a toddler suffering brain damage due to exposure to lead paint in a rental home. The home was insured by a CGL policy issued to the landlord, and the insurer filed a declaratory judgment action arguing that there was no coverage for the claim because bodily injuries due to exposure to pollutants were excluded. Summary judgment was granted to the insurer in the trial court, but the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the policy did not specifically exclude lead paint as a pollutant. On certiorari, the Georgia Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals, agreeing with the trial court that the pollution exclusion barred coverage for the claim.
Specifically, the policy excluded coverage for “(1) ’bodily injury’ or ‘property damage’ arising out of the actual, alleged or threatened discharge, dispersal, seepage, migration, release or escape of ‘pollutants’ (a) At or from any premises, site or location which is or was at any time owned or occupied by, or rented or loaned to, any insured.” “Pollutant” was defined as “any solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acids, alkalis, chemicals and waste.”
Ruling for the insurer, the Supreme Court acknowledged that the question of whether lead paint was a pollutant was one of first impression in the State, but it held that prior cases excluding coverage for different pollutants (such as carbon monoxide) under policies with similarly broad language were controlling. In keeping with those cases, the Court held that “lead present in paint unambiguously qualifies as a pollutant” and “the plain language of the policy’s pollution exclusion thus excludes [the claim] from coverage.” Key in this ruling was the Court’s lengthy discussion of the history and purpose of pollution exclusions in CGL policies.
The case discussed herein is Georgia Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Smith, No. S15G1177 (Ga. March 21, 2016). Please contact us if you would like a copy of the case or have any questions.