Insurance — asbestos exclusions

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Wisconsin Supreme Court

Civil

Insurance — asbestos exclusions

An asbestos exclusion bars a claim by the buyers of property that they would not have bought the property had the seller not negligently failed to disclose the presence of asbestos on the property.

“The plaintiff-buyers assert, among other claims, that they never would have bought the property and suffered the loss but for the defendant-sellers’ negligent failure to disclose the possibility of asbestos. They contend that the defendant-sellers’ negligent failure to disclose the presence of asbestos is not covered by the asbestos exclusion and that there is no causal nexus between their loss and the tort.”

“Yet, the scope of the asbestos exclusion does not depend on the type of tort from which the loss arose; the exclusion’s language concerns the loss itself arising out of asbestos. Our analysis focuses on whether the loss suffered by the plaintiff-buyers is within the text of the asbestos exclusion and thus reasonably contemplated by the parties.”

Affirmed.

2011AP2608 Phillips v. Parmalee

Abrahamson, C.J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Strohbehn, Christopher L., Milwaukee; Luczak, Jason D., Milwaukee; For Respondent: Mingo, Mark J., Milwaukee; Bennett, Brooke, Milwaukee