Wells Fargo Insurance Launches California Prop 65 Insurance Program

Wells Fargo Insurance has launched a Prop 65 insurance program liability insurance program tailored to provide financial protection for product manufacturers, distributors, and formulators of products that contain any of six plasticizers covered under California Proposition (Prop) 65.

California Prop 65 was passed into law in 1986 and requires product manufacturers, distributors, and formulators to provide “clear and reasonable” warnings on products sold in California that contain chemicals known to be carcinogenic, or cause birth defects, if exposure to those chemicals from the product exceeds the safe harbor level. Currently, California Prop 65 covers more than 800 chemicals.

The average settlement cost for claims relating to Prop 65 exceeds $80,000, according to the California Attorney General, with fines costing as much as $2,500 per exposure per day, according to Wells Fargo Insurance. Existing general liability, product, and pollution policies currently do not provide coverage, which puts companies at financial risk if faced with a Prop 65 civil lawsuit.

Under Wells Fargo Insurance’s program, companies can now mitigate risk by securing coverage to provide protection from the costs associated with defending a Prop 65 lawsuit specific to plasticizers, including fines, penalties, legal costs, and expenses. The coverage is serviced by Safehold Special Risk, Inc., a division of Wells Fargo Insurance, and underwritten by Hiscox, and is available in the U.S. on a surplus lines basis.

According to Glynis Priester, Wells Fargo Insurance Environmental National practice, the company worked closely with SPI, The Trade Association of the Plastics Industry to craft the program.

Wells Fargo’s Prop 65 insurance program provides coverage related to the following plasticizers:

• DEHP
• DBP
• BBP
• DIDP
• DnHP
• DINP

The Wells Fargo program is endorsed by SPI and offered as a business benefit by SPI to its members.

Wells Fargo’s Environmental National Practice helps customers with financial underwriting and insurance, including pollution legal liability, guaranteed fixed price cleanup, environmental surety, and lender liability.

Wells Fargo Insurance provides insurance product for retail consumers, high net worth individuals, small businesses, as well as middle market and large corporate customers. Wells Fargo Insurance writes or places approximately $11 billion of risk premiums annually in property, casualty, benefits, international, personal lines, and life products and also includes nationwide crop insurance provider Rural Community Insurance Services (RCIS).

Topics California Pollution