Sixth Circuit Reinforces Critical Occurrence Analysis

Short summary

The Sixth Circuit held in J.M. Smucker v. Ace American Insurance that thousands of salmonella-related claims arose from a single occurrence, not 225 lot-based occurrences as ACE argued. Under Ohio's cause test, the court looked to the common source of harm rather than the number of claimants. The decision prevents insurers from stacking per-occurrence retained limits to effectively eliminate coverage for widespread product recall losses.

• •Sixth Circuit ruled salmonella claims from Smucker recall constitute one occurrence
• •Ohio cause test looks to common cause, not number of claimants
• •Prevents insurers from stacking retained limits to eliminate coverage

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