Environmental
Verified Update
Filed
Fox Investments sued Kaukauna and the city's historic insurers directly to recover $235,683.63 spent investigating and cleaning up heavy-metal and PAH contamination on its property.
Fox Investments LLC filed a complaint on July 23, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin against the City of Kaukauna and the city's historic liability insurers -- Sentry, The Travelers Indemnity Company, and Employers Insurance Company of Wausau -- seeking to recover $235,683.63 in costs it incurred investigating and remediating heavy-metal and PAH contamination discovered on its property in 2018. Fox invoked Wisconsin's direct-action statute, which allows a plaintiff to sue a defendant's insurer directly, after the Department of Natural Resources named Fox a responsible party in 2019 and closed the site in May 2022 once Fox completed the DNR-directed cleanup.
$235,683.63 in investigation and remediation costs sought via Wisconsin's direct-action statute
Why it matters: Suing a prior owner's or responsible party's historic insurers directly, rather than first obtaining a judgment against the underlying defendant, lets a current commercial owner pursue environmental cost recovery without waiting on a municipality's own ability or willingness to pay. The case is a useful template for other owners who inherit legacy contamination tied to a municipal predecessor or government actor whose own insurance history may be the most realistic source of recovery.
Jul 23, 2026
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin
Environmental
Verified Update
Filed
Travelers and St. Paul Fire and Marine seek a ruling that pollution exclusions bar coverage for cleaning up a former dry cleaner's PCE contamination at an Indianapolis shopping center.
Travelers Property Casualty Company of America and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company sued Washington Shoppes LP and property owner The Broadbent Company in Indiana state court, seeking a declaration that pollution-exclusion clauses in their policies bar coverage for remediation costs at an Indianapolis shopping center contaminated by a former dry-cleaning tenant. Sunrise Dry Cleaners operated at the site from 1987 to 1996, and subsequent testing found tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and its degradation byproducts in soil and groundwater beneath the property.
Pollution-exclusion coverage dispute; remediation costs undisclosed
Why it matters: Legacy dry-cleaner contamination is one of the most common environmental liabilities lurking in older strip-mall and shopping-center portfolios, and this case shows insurers moving proactively to disclaim coverage rather than waiting to be sued for it — shifting remediation-cost risk back onto the property owner even where the contamination predates their ownership. Owners and buyers of retail centers with any pre-1990s dry-cleaning, auto-service, or similar tenant history should confirm Phase I/II environmental assessments are current and should not assume a general liability or pollution policy will actually respond before a claim is filed.
Nov 26, 2025
Marion Superior Court, Indiana
