The federal district court for the District of Hawaii ruled that under two policies that lacked pollution exclusions, an insurer had an obligation to defend a fossil fuel company in climate change-related lawsuits brought by the <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/city-county-of-honolulu-v-sunoco-lp/">City and County of Honolulu</a> and the <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/county-of-maui-v-sunoco-lp/">County of Maui</a>. First, the court found that the underlying lawsuits “possibly allege an occurrence,” or “accident,” that was covered under the policies based on the standard articulated by the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. Second, on the question of whether property damage occurred during the two policies’ terms, which ran from February 1, 1986 to February 1, 1988, the court was “skeptical” that the underlying complaints’ allegations of greenhouse gas emissions during that period equated to allegations of property damage but concluded that it was not necessary to reach that issue because the underlying complaints possibly alleged property damage during the policies’ terms. In particular, the court concluded that allegations “that sea level rise has been rising since the 1960s, causing flooding, and inundating low-lying property,” were “sufficient to raise the potential or possibility of coverage” under the policies, even if there were not allegations about “exactly when the flooding took place nor precisely how it damaged property.” The court also found that undated allegations of property damage were sufficient for the fossil fuel company to meet “its very light burden to prove the possibility of coverage” in order to establish the duty to defend. Third, the court found that the insurer could not plausibly argue that it was impossible that the underlying complaints’ requests for compensatory damages sought “damages because of property damage.”

Fossil fuel company's lawsuit against insurer for breaching its obligations to defend and indemnify the company in underlying climate change cases brought by Honolulu and Maui.

Aloha Petroleum Ltd. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh

<p>This entry was provided by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Please see the terms of use for citation and licensing of third party data.</p>

Hawaii Federal Court Said Insurer Had Duty to Defend Fossil Fuel Company in Climate Suits Under Policies Without Pollution Exclusions

Filed

United States of America

Hawaii

The Climate Litigation Database

Find climate change litigation data and indicators for {text}.

{text} litigation

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law provides Climate Litigation Database, a comprehensive database of US and Global climate change caselaw

Quickly and easily search through the complete text of thousands of climate change law and policy documents from every country.

Search the Climate Litigation Database

An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Financial support to help individuals manage the effects of unexpected events, securing their livelihoods and increasing the resilience of people and businesses to the changing climate. It’s especially vital in developing regions where everyday risks, climate-related weather extremes, or crop failures can push people into poverty. Without insurance, people may have to resort to selling assets or cutting consumption to cope with losses.

Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions and measures to adapt and increase resilience of societies and the economy to climate change.

Hot temperature extremes are daily maximum temperatures  that were exceeded on average once in a decade or once in 50 years, and includes heatwaves.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

A long-lived, colourless gas, chiefly emitted from fossil fuel combustion, deforestation and cement production.

Risks to the ecosystem health of the marine environment, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, and ocean deoxygenation, harming biodiversity, species health, ecosystem services, and coastal community livelihoods.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

Terrestrial means "of the earth" and relates to the risks to ecological system that includes all living organisms and their interactions within land-based environments, such as forests, grasslands, and deserts.

Air pollution involves harmful contaminants in the air, affecting both indoor and outdoor environments. It can lead to health issues like respiratory diseases and heart problems, and climate impacts such as global warming. Pollutants can damage plants, trees, habitats, and water bodies like rivers and lakes.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Any compulsory, unrequited payment to the government levied on corporations or individuals. This can be for environmental reasons, such as introducing a Carbon tax to set a price that emitters must pay for the greenhouse gases they emit.

Activities that involve planning, designing and building infrastructure, residential, and commercial structures.

This sector involves the wholesale and retail selling of goods.

Activities that provide lodging, food, and entertainment services to guests, including hotels, restaurants, and resorts.

Slow onset events evolve gradually from incremental changes over many years or from increased frequency or intensity of recurring events. As defined in the Cancun Adaptation Framework (2010), slow onset events include risks and impacts from rising temperatures, desertification, biodiversity loss, land and forest degradation, glacial retreat, ocean acidification, sea level rise, and salinization.

Heavy precipitation refers to any form of weather where substances fall from the sky, including rain, snow, sleet, or hail.

Hawaii Federal Court Said Insurer Had Duty to Defend Fossil Fuel Company in Climate Suits Under Policies Without Pollution Exclusions

Policy instrument

Risk

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance