The District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri ruled that a policy's total pollution exclusion does not preclude coverage for physical injuries caused by breath drops manufactured by the insured. The case is Atain Specialty Ins. Co. v. Dollar Tree Stores, Inc., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169735 (E.D. Mo. 2024).
What Happened
An 18-month-old girl was chewing on a bottle of liquid breath drops purchased from a Dollar Tree when she accidentally ingested the product. The breath drops were caustic to the girl's esophagus, to the point where doctors replaced it with an artificial one. She received multiple kinds of therapy and treatment for these injuries and would need more therapies and treatments in the future. The girl's mother sued Dollar Tree and Greenbriar, the distributor of the drops, for products liability and negligence. Dollar Tree and Greenbriar subsequently sought contribution from Oralabs, the company that made the breath drops.
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