Liberty Mutual Unit Sues Industrial Parts Maker in Pollution Row

A Liberty Mutual insurance unit is suing a Portland, Ore.-based manufacturer of industrial machinery parts over environmental response costs at a contaminated site.

General Insurance Co. of America has no further duty to defend or indemnify now-dissolved Penco Inc. and Peninsula Iron Works because the insurance policy’s limits have been exhausted, the carrier said in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Oregon.

The key issues are whether General properly exhausted the policy’s per-occurrence and aggregate limits through payments for environmental consulting work associated with remedial design activities, which General characterizes as indemnity costs ...