Deer Blood and the Pollution Exclusion

July 11, 2016

We represent a church that had a deer jump through a sanctuary window resulting in physical and blood damage to the building, including pews and pew cushions. The deer eventually left the structure through another window in an adjacent school hallway. The church is covered under Special Form CP 10 30 06 07. The carrier has put us on notice that they may attempt to deny the deer blood damage under the pollution exclusion. Does this exclusion apply to the deer blood damage?

Pennsylvania Subscriber

While an argument could be made for blood to be categorized as "waste" within the meaning of the pollution exclusion, this is a stretch. We noted in a published Q&A regarding a homeowners policy and human blood (but with a similar pollution exclusion), "While bodily remains need to be cleaned up, they are not waste in the sense that they can be recycled, reconditioned or reclaimed. The pollution exclusion applies to gaseous, liquid or solid irritants including alkalis, acids, etc. While cleaning up a body may be distasteful, human remains aren't an irritant in the chemical sense that is described in the pollution exclusion. The exclusion specifically refers to manmade pollutants or contaminants, and exclusions are to be read narrowly. Therefore the remains are not pollutants and are not excluded." This is referring to human remains, but the same would apply to deer blood.