The tort wars appear to be turning in favor of insurers on the environmental liability front, at least judging from a series of recent court decisions backing risk managers and their insurers.

The decision by the City of Columbus, Ohio, earlier this month to voluntarily dismiss with prejudice its public nuisance lawsuit against former manufacturers of lead pigment is just the initial fallout of two significant, positive court decisions for property-casualty insurers and insurance buyers over the last several weeks.

In the first, the U.S. Supreme Court--in a decision involving the Exxon Valdez tanker oil spill disaster off the coast of Alaska--limited punitive damages in federal court tort cases to a 1:1 ratio of actual damages.

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