News round-up - California AG announces deal over Lloyd's dispute.

(From Reinsurance)

California's Attorney General Bill Lockyer has announced that he has reached several landmark agreements which require Lloyd's of London and 15 other defendant insurers to pay the State of California approximately $93m to settle insurance claims for cleanup damages at the Stringfellow hazardous waste site.

According to the attorney general's office the Lloyd's settlement, representing $49m of the total amount, is particularly significant because Lloyd's was one of the state's major insurers, and the company's attorneys had been leading the defence against the state's claims.

"The Lloyd's agreement represents a fair resolution of the state's claim against its insurance policy," said Mr Lockyer. "Stringfellow is California's highest-priority superfund site and we have spent more than 30 years and hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the site. These settlements will help California recoup some of its expenses and allow us to focus our attention on the remaining defendants who are legally obligated to cover the Stringfellow cleanup costs."

Located in the community of Glen Avon in Riverside County, Stringfellow was an industrial waste disposal site that accepted 35 million gallons of liquid hazardous wastes between 1956 and 1972. California purchased numerous insurance policies from the defendants to cover potential liability associated with Stringfellow.

In 1983, the state was sued in federal court by the ...