Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2004

Wagner v. Erie Insurance

Wagner v. Erie Insurance
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · Decided April 29, 2004 · Lamb, Nigro, Newman
847 A.2d 1274; 577 Pa. 563; 2004 Pa. LEXIS 1395 (Atlantic Reporter, Second Series)

Wagner v. Erie Insurance

Opinion of the Court

ORDER

PER CURIAM.

The Order of the Superior Court is affirmed.

Justice LAMB did not participate in the decision of this ease. Justice NIGRO files a dissenting statement in which Justice NEWMAN joins.

Dissenting Opinion

Justice NIGRO

dissenting.

Unlike my colleagues, I would reverse the order of the Superior Court and order Appellee Erie Insurance Company to cover the losses that Appellant Thomas F. Wagner, individually and trading as Blue Bell Gulf, sustained when an underground pipe at his gasoline station ruptured, releasing gasoline into the soil under his and neighboring properties. I simply cannot accept the Superior Court’s position that an insurance company providing general liability coverage for an insured’s operation of a gasoline station can deny coverage for *564damages from a gasoline leak based on a general pollution exclusion, when that exclusion is buried on page twenty-five of the policy and the policy’s definition of “pollutant” does not specifically reference gasoline.

Justice NEWMAN joins.

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