Lloyd's of London has agreed to pay $93m to settle insurance claims...

Equitas has agreed to pay $49m to settle insurance claims for clean-up damages at the Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Site in California, the state's attorney general Bill Lockyer announced today.

"The agreement represents a fair resolution of the state's claim against its insurance policy," said Lockyer.

"Stringfellow is California's highest priority Superfund Site and we have spent more than 30 years and hundreds of millions of dollars to clean up the site."

Stringfellow was an industrial waste disposal site that accepted 35 million gallons of bulk liquid hazardous wastes between 1956 and 1972.

In 1988 the State of California assumed responsibility for tidying up the site after the companies that generated the toxic waste took it to court.

At the same time as fighting in the courts, the state entered negotiations with several insurers who sold general liability policies to California.

Equitas has now agreed to pay out $43m to settle the case.

The state said it is preparing to go to court with the remaining non-settling insurance companies in March.

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