Is condensate a contaminant? When it spills and burns a worker,
yes. In Hiland Partners v. National Union Fire Insurance
Company the operator, an additional insured under a
contractor's commercial general liability insurance policy, was
deprived of coverage – and a duty of the insurer to defend.
We'll get to the lessons. But first, ...
The accident
Hiland owns a gas processing facility in North Dakota and had an
MSA with Missouri Basin under which MB would provide services. MB
procured the insurance policy and included Hiland as an additional
insured. As always, the insurer had a duty to defend. There was an
exclusion in the policy for bodily injury arising out of the
discharge, release, etc. of pollutants, which were defined as any
"solid, liquid, gaseous or thermal irritant or contaminant,
including smoke, vapor, soot, fumes, acid, alkali, chemicals and
waste".
