Fuel Transporter Wins Appeal for Excess Insurance on Gas Spill

A commodities transport business won its breach-of-contract suit against excess insurer General Star Indemnity Co. after the First Circuit found the policy too ambiguous to deny coverage for fuel cleanup costs.

Fitchburg, Mass.-based Performance Transportation Inc. sought excess insurance payouts from General Star in early 2019 after one of its tanker trucks flipped and spilled about 4,300 gallons of fuel that contaminated a reservoir in New York.

General Star denied PTI’s claim, citing a provision that excludes coverage for “total pollution” and declaring that a policy coverage addition for “special hazards” didn’t apply to the spill.

But those portions of ...