Defining An Occurrence For Sexual Abuse Cases

By Katharine Thompson, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP (April 27, 2017, 2:15 PM EDT) -- In Diocese of Duluth v. Liberty Mutual Group et al., case no. 16-05012 (Mar. 30, 2017), the Bankruptcy Court for the District Court for Minnesota was asked to determine the trigger of coverage and the number of "occurrences" related to negligence claims asserted against the Diocese of Duluth by victims of priest sexual abuse. Such claims drove the Diocese to file for bankruptcy. As part of that bankruptcy proceeding, the Diocese filed an adversary proceeding seeking coverage from several of its insurers which had issued multiple "occurrence"-based policies spanning several decades. Ruling in favor of the Diocese, the court found that multiple years of coverage could be triggered and that multiple "occurrences" could be found in each policy year because each victim was a separate "occurrence."...

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