8th Circuit Panel Vacates $25M Judgment, Says Pollution Exclusion Bars Coverage

( September 8, 2026, 10:49 AM EDT) -- ST. LOUIS — A district court erred in determining that a second-level umbrella insurer owes coverage to an additional insured for underlying personal injury suits stemming from an oil and gas well explosion because an exception to the umbrella insurer’s pollution exclusion cannot be applied to provide coverage based on the additional insured’s failure to provide notice of the explosion within 21 days as required by the exception, the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said in vacating the lower court’s $25 million judgment against the insurer....