The New York Court of Appeals will address an insurance coverage question in Appalachian Ins. Co. v. General Elec. Co., regarding the meaning of the term "occurrence" in excess coverage insurance policies. The Appellate Division, First Department stated the following regarding the trigger for the excess insurers regarding the claimant's allegation of asbestos exposure:
For the purpose of determining the attachment point of the excess coverage, the motion court correctly held that such clause is not ambiguous; that the operative "occurrence" is the last link in the causal chain leading to liability, i.e., the exposure of each individual claimant to asbestos contained in the turbines manufactured by the insured, rather than earlier events creating the potential for future injury, i.e., the insured's design, manufacture and sale of the turbines without warnings about asbestos; and that, accordingly, individual claims could not be aggregated.
The Court of Appeals will examine the First Department's affirmance of a declaration that certain of the excess insurers are not obligated to defend or indemnify the insured with respect to any single claim that does not exceed $5 million.
Comments