Six insurers could be on the hook for a total of $100 millionunder the latest court ruling in a 15-year legal battle betweenCalifornia and its liability carriers over a claim for toxic wastecleanup costs, according to a plaintiff's attorney.

That estimate came from Robert Horkovich of Anderson Kill &Olick, one of the firms representing the state against theinsurers.

Mr. Horkovich said he expects the insurers to seek a review ofthe case by the California State Supreme Court in the wake ofMonday's verdict by the California Appellate Court (4th District)in Riverside, Calif.

The appeals court decision by a three-judge panel reversed alower court ruling in 2005 that severely limited the insurers'exposure and found they owed the state nothing after factoring inpayments by other carriers that made settlements in the case.

At issue were cleanup costs that the state was held liable forafter federal officials brought an action against it in 1998 overits faulty construction of a toxic waste collection point known asStringfellow Acid Pits, which leaked poisons into groundwaterextending for miles from its site at a rock quarry in Glen Avon,Calif.

The state has estimated that the past and future remediationcosts could total up to $700 million. In limiting what Californiacould collect from insurers, the trial judge, Erik Kaiser (nowretired) relied on a California court decision in 1998–FMC Corp. v.Plaisted & Companies.

The Riverside appellate court panel, which remanded the case forfurther action, said FMC was a flawed decision because "it failedto follow other closely analogous California cases, based onreasoning that we find to be flawed and unconvincing."

The FMC case ruling held that even though a policy coveredmultiple years, recoveries were limited by the amount of propertydamage taking place in a single year.

Mr. Horkovich said this meant the insured, in making a claim,basically had to pick only one year for which a recovery could bemade.

Under the latest ruling, policyholders can stackcoverage–accessing all coverage under all policies in all yearstriggered.

Insurers that remain as defendants in the case are ContinentalInsurance Company, Continental Casualty Company, EmployersInsurance of Wausau, Horace Mann Insurance Company, StonebridgeLife Insurance Company, and Yosemite Insurance Company.

Each of them had issued to the state an excess corporate generalliability policy covering a two- or three-year policy period.