Mississippi Judge Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage of Chinese Drywall Claims

GULFPORT, Miss. — A federal judge has relieved an insurer of its duty to cover Chinese drywall claims brought against a company that performed repair work on a Mississippi home damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi said in an Oct. 10 decision that the underlying allegations against Prestige Properties Inc. fit squarely within the terms of an total pollution exclusion contained in a policy under which the builder sought coverage.

Prestige was named a defendant in an omnibus class action filed in the Chinese Drywall MDL in …