Relates to claims against insurers for petroleum spills, providing that all direct and indirect damages relating to a discharge of petroleum shall be considered insurable property damage, creating an affirmative defense for insurers that the insured failed to take reasonable steps to prevent such discharge and requiring insurers provide a notice in every homeowner's policy that the insured is responsible to take reasonable steps to prevent petroleum discharges.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7281
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 3, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ENGLEBRIGHT -- (at request of the State Comp-
troller) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental
Conservation
AN ACT to amend the navigation law, in relation to claims against insur-
ers for petroleum spills
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 190 of the navigation law, as added by chapter 845
2 of the laws of 1977, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 190. Claims against insurers. 1. Any claims for costs of cleanup and
4 removal, civil penalties or damages by the state and any claim for
5 damages by any injured person, may be brought directly against the bond,
6 the insurer, or any other person providing evidence of financial respon-
7 sibility.
8 2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all homeown-
9 ers' policies of insurance in this state which shall insure against
10 damage to property shall clearly provide that cleanup and removal costs
11 and all direct and indirect damages relating to a discharge of petroleum
12 shall constitute property damage and shall be insurable within the mean-
13 ing of the general liability portions of such insurance policy. The risk
14 of damages caused by such discharges may not be an exclusion in any such
15 policy issued in the state.
16 3. In any claim for coverage of the costs and damages relating to a
17 discharge of petroleum, the insurer may raise the affirmative defense
18 that the insured had actual knowledge of a condition which a reasonable
19 person would have understood to pose an imminent risk of a discharge of
20 petroleum and that the insured failed to take reasonable steps to
21 prevent the discharge.
22 4. Insurers shall provide the following notice in bold lettering of at
23 least twelve point type font in every homeowner's policy, newly issued
24 or renewed which insures against damage to property:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10549-01-1
A. 7281 2
1 YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO PREVENT A DISCHARGE FROM YOUR PETROLEUM
2 (OIL, KEROSENE, ETC.) TANKS AND ASSOCIATED PIPELINES. IF YOU KNOW OF A
3 CONDITION WHICH COULD RESULT IN A DISCHARGE, YOUR FAILURE TO TAKE
4 REASONABLE STEPS TO PREVENT THE DISCHARGE COULD VOID THE COVERAGE
5 PROVIDED BY THIS POLICY.
6 5. Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit any pre-exist-
7 ing right, whether actual or implied, in which the insured may have had
8 compensation from the insurer for cleanup and removal costs and all
9 direct and indirect damages relating to a discharge of petroleum.
10 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
11 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
