Each Incident Of Abuse Is A Separate Occurrence, Says Minnesota Bankruptcy Court
04.28.17
This is only gets display when printing
(Article from Insurance Law Alert, April 2017)
For more information, please visit the Insurance Law Alert Resource Center.
A Minnesota bankruptcy court ruled that each incident of abuse by an individual priest is a separate occurrence under liability policies.
In re Diocese of Duluth, 2017 WL 1194501 (Bankr. D. Minn. Mar. 30, 2017). Numerous insurers sought declarations as to coverage for sexual abuse claims against the Diocese of Duluth. Liberty Mutual argued that various acts of abuse by different priests against multiple victims arose from one occurrence – the Diocese’s negligent supervision of the priests. Rejecting this argument, the court explained that under Minnesota law, each incident of sexual abuse caused injury and thus constituted a separate identifiable occurrence. However, the court held that under the deemer clause, all abuse against one victim by the same priest is deemed one occurrence.