QBE Insurance Units Sue Over Coverage for Silica Exposure Cases

QBE Insurance Group Ltd. units are suing a manufacturer of quartz surfaces seeking a ruling that they owe no coverage for more than 150 underlying lawsuits alleging injuries from exposure to silica dust.

The insurers—Regent Insurance Co. and General Casualty Co. of Wisconsin—issued commercial general liability policies to Cambria Enterprises and related entities from 2005 to 2014. But the underlying cases don’t involve an “occurrence” as defined in the policies, and coverage is precluded by policy exclusions for silica-related dust and pollution, the insurers said in a complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the Central District of ...