Opinion ID: 2614519
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: damages includes cercla response costs

Text: We similarly join the many other jurisdictions that have held that government mandated response or cleanup costs under CERLCA constitute damages as that term is used in the insurance policies. Insurers ask us to draw a bright-line distinction between legal remedies and equitable remedies and to hold that the definition of damages is limited to damages ordered by a court of law. We decline to do so, since we are required to give undefined terms in an insurance policy their plain and ordinary meaning and to construe ambiguities against the drafter and in favor of providing coverage. See Chacon, 788 P.2d at 750. As many courts have noted, if Insurers intended the term damages to have only a limited technical meaning, they had the opportunity to clearly indicate this in their policies. See Metro Wastewater, 834 F.Supp. at 1259 (applying Colorado law); Hartford Accident & Indem. Co. v. Dana Corp., 690 N.E.2d 285, 298 (Ind.App.1997); A.Y. McDonald, 475 N.W.2d at 621. They did not do so. Thus, we join these and other courts that have held that the ordinary meaning of damages is broad and covers environmental response costs. See also Boeing Co. v. Aetna Cas. and Sur. Co., 113 Wash.2d 869, 784 P.2d 507, 516 (1990).