Tokio Marine Unit Ordered to Pay for Silica Suit Defense Costs

A Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. unit must cover a quartz countertop producer’s bills in litigation from stoneworkers who say they were harmed by inhaling silica dust released in the fabrication process, a California federal court ruled.

Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. failed to show that silica dust necessarily counts as a pollutant excluded from coverage in policies spanning 2000 to 2002, the US District Court for the Central District of California said in its order.

The ruling is the latest in a series of losses for carriers hoping to avoid covering the pileup of stoneworker claims against companies that manufactured, distributed, ...