ELR Citation: ELR 20230
No(s). 08-CV-4158 (N.D. Ill. Aug 19, 2010)

A district court held that under Illinois law, an insurer has a duty to defend the former owner of the South Green Plating Superfund site in Chicago, Illinois, in an underlying CERCLA case concerning the reimbursement of U.S. response costs incurred at the site. The government's underlying allegations do not state unambiguously that environmental contamination during the policy period caused injury, and the underlying complaint is far from clear about what transpired at the site. But the allegations do not foreclose the possibility that the evidence will show that the subject of the suit does fall within the insurance policy's coverage. Thus, the insurer has a duty to defend the former owner against the government's allegations.