The federal district court found there was no coverage for injury caused by an explosion at a recycling facility. Mountain West Farm Bur. Mut. Ins. Co. v. Jackson, et al., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202319 (E.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2019).
Tim and Roberta Jackson owned Ibex Construction, located in Spokane, Washington. The Jacksons contracted with Reinland Auctioneers to clear the Ibex Construction property of scrap metal and old equipment. Reinland contracted with Gordon Beck to remove certain pieces of scrap metal from the property. Beck loaded the bigger pieces of scrap metal, including a 55-gallon unmarked metal tank, into a dump truck. After the truck was driven to the recycling facility, the metal, including the unmarked tank, was loaded into a crusher. When the tank was crushed, it exploded and chlorine gas was released, causing considerable injuries and death to nearby persons working at the recycling facility.
Suit was filed by an individual injured in the explosion against many defendants, including the Jacksons. The Jacksons had a policy from Mountain West for insured locations. The policy defined "insured locations" as all locations shown in the Declarations where a farm or residence premises was maintained.
Mountain West filed a declaratory judgment action against the Jacksons and moved for summary judgment. The court found that "insured location" required that the covered locations be shown in the Declarations. The only location shown in the Declarations was a residence of the Jacksons in Montana. The Spokane property was not covered because it met the definitions of "locations not Insured," i.e., any location that the insured owned, rented, leased or controlled, other than the "insured location." While the Jackson's owned the Spokane property where the tank was located, that property was not an "insured location" and the exclusion applied.
Consequently, there was no coverage for any claim against the Jacksons as a result of the explosion that occurred in Spokane, Washington.
