On April 6, the California Supreme Court issued another policyholder friendly decision, this one making it easier to access upper level excess policy limits for continuing third-party property damage claims.  In the long-running Montrose Chemical coverage litigation, the California Supreme Court unanimously decided that vertical exhaustion applied to Montrose’s excess policies, such that Montrose could “seek indemnification under any excess policy once Montrose has exhausted the underlying excess policies in the same policy period.”  Because the question was not before the Court, it did not decide whether the same vertical exhaustion rule would apply in the context of primary and first layer excess policies.       

To read the entire decision, click here. 

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