Liability and contracts
Why does a general liability policy exclude gases and fumes? Standard liability policies exclude injury caused by pollutants, and the legal definition of pollutant is broad enough to include ordinary gases and vapors.
The pollution exclusion in a standard general liability policy was written with industrial contamination in mind, but the definition it uses is far wider than most business owners expect. Pollutant typically means any solid, liquid, gaseous, or thermal irritant or contaminant, including smoke, vapor, fumes, and chemicals. You do not need a waste site to trigger it. You need a gas and an injury.
That is how something as ordinary as a fog machine becomes a coverage problem. Carbon dioxide used for effects, refrigerants, cleaning chemicals, exhaust in an enclosed space, and even a well intentioned attempt at atmosphere can all land inside an exclusion that was never explained at binding. The claim then turns on a question nobody in the room expected: was this a pollutant.
The fix is inexpensive relative to the exposure. Pollution legal liability, an indoor air quality endorsement, or a carveback for specific operations can restore the coverage. Anyone running enclosed spaces, effects, chemicals, or refrigeration should ask the question in writing before the event rather than after.
Heard on the show. Jessica works through this one in The Brewery Seance: The Spirits Didn’t Knock Them Out, the CO2 Did, with the full story and the transcript.
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This page is education, not advice. Policy language varies by carrier, form, and state, so confirm how your own program is written with a licensed insurance professional.
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