About a month ago, a truck accidentally leaked a “tar-like” substance across the Pennsylvania turnpike. As a result, many vehicles were damaged. This has resulted in about 900 claims. The insurer for the company truck says the $1 million policy won’t cover all the claims. Now what?
In late November of 2011, a truck owned by Marino Transportation Services was driving on the Pennsylvania turnpike. Shortly after arriving on the turnpike, the truck started leaking. The substance that leaked from the truck was described as a warm, sticky, and “tar-like” chemical.
The driver didn’t immediately realize that his truck was leaking the “tar-like” chemical onto the turnpike. About forty miles later, he realized what was happening, and pulled into a service plaza. For a while, there was no way to inform motorists about the substance that had coated the road.
Drivers began noticing that their cars were not driving right. People noticed that a thick, black, substance had coated their tires, and it appeared that it was causing their tires to melt. The substance, and the problems it caused, ended up making people drive much more slowly than usual. Some people were delayed for hours, and required a tow truck to move their vehicles off the turnpike.
Fortunately, the Marino Transportation Services truck was covered by a commercial auto insurance policy that was through an insurer called Travelers. People who had their vehicle affected by the tar were directed to contact Travelers Insurance to file their claims for the damages caused by the spilled tar.
Now, Travelers Insurance is saying that the claims filed by affected motorists will probably exceed the $1 million limit that is on the policy held by Marino Transportation Services. There also is a claim from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission to deal with, (which is for an unspecified amount).
What happens now? It turns out that Travelers Insurance is the primary insurer for Marino Transportation Services. There is a secondary insurer called Hallmark. That secondary, supplemental, policy should cover damages up to $4 million dollars.
However, Hallmark has refused to pay because it says that it has an exclusion for “pollution or environmental events”. Hallmark feels that the incident that involved the spilled “tar-like” substance would fall under that description, and therefore, the insurer doesn’t have to pay out for claims related to this accident. It won’t pay out unless there is a court order that forces it to do so.
At this time, Marino Transportation Services has sued Hallmark, in an attempt to force the secondary insurer to pay out on the policy. Meanwhile, Travelers said that with an expedited summary judgement, it can begin paying out on some of the claims.
Image by Doug Kerr on Flickr