WHERE THERE’S SMOKE That fire in the atrium office building at 9343 North Loop East almost 2 years ago still heats up the Houston real estate scene: “An insurance company with a potential $25 million liability from a 2007 Houston office fire is claiming smoke that killed three people was ‘pollution’ and surviving families shouldn’t be compensated for their losses since the deaths were not caused directly by the actual flames. Great American Insurance Company is arguing in a Houston federal court that the section of the insurance policy that excludes payments for pollution — like discharges or seepage that require cleanup — would also exclude payouts for damages, including deaths, caused by smoke, or pollution, that results from a fire.†[Houston Chronicle]
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cough cough cough….I wonder which over priced/over paid lawyer thought of that to get the case dismissed.
Well,
Hopefully a jury sees through this.
This was a tragedy. The insurer covered a building that it knew had no extensive fire protection system. Yes, it wasn’t required, but to the insurer it just meant higher premiums to the building owner.
that’s so sucky. i work for the state office that lost two employees to that fire.
dirty business.
That is ridiculous. I hope they make the insurance company pay EXTRA just for attempting to pull that kind of stunt.
Great American’s not exactly a pillar in the insurance industry. That’s a bullshit claim denial.
Would it be unprecedented for them to be court ordered to change their name to include neither Great nor American?