How Pollution Liability Coverage Can Help Your Business

Posted on: 25 July 2018

Pollution liability coverage is not something most people think they need to purchase for their business. However, this coverage can help you avoid financial ruin if you have been accused of pollution-related damages. Here are some of the specific things pollution liability coverage can help you with:

Defense Cost for Pollution Lawsuits

One of the most expensive lawsuits your business can ever face is that of pollution. First, expect the plaintiff side to have a number of interested parties such as the government and environmentalists. This means the plaintiff side is likely to have an unlimited budget for its onslaught on you and you need to match them as far as is economically possible. Secondly, apart from hiring a good lawyer, you will most likely need the assistance of expert witness do defend your case. All these can add up to serious money, but pollution liability coverage will help you with the defense costs.

Compensating Victims of Pollution 

Despite your spirited defense, it's possible that you may lose your pollution liability lawsuit and be required to compensate the victims. In fact, sometimes it makes sense to compensate such victims with an out-of-court settlement. Your pollution liability carrier will be the one making this decision and it will be the one to sign the compensation checks whether it's an out-of-court or a court-ordered settlement.

Cleaning Up the Polluted Area

In many cases of pollution damages, you don't just sign a compensation check and the issue goes away; you have to clean up the area polluted by your actions or products. For example, if your trucks accidentally spilled oil in a local water catchment area, you will need serious funds to hire a cleanup company to reverse the effects of the spillage as much as is humanly possible. Again, this is also something that your pollution liability insurance policy caters for.

Compensating Buyers of Your Polluted Properties

Lastly, pollution liability coverage may also come to your rescue if you sell a property to another person and it turns out that it is polluted. If your actions as the previous owner of the property are deemed as the cause of the pollution, then you will have to compensate the new owner and also help them clean up the property.

As you can see, pollution liability coverage is a big deal, especially if your business faces a high risk of pollution. Analyze your business, preferably with the involvement of an insurance agent, and decide whether you need pollution liability coverage.

Contact a company like Scovotti Insurance for more information.

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