[Download] "Benjamin Moore & Co. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co." by Supreme Court of New Jersey # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Benjamin Moore & Co. v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.
- Author : Supreme Court of New Jersey
- Release Date : January 24, 2004
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 86 KB
Description
Argued November 5, 2003 Because of the scientific uncertainties inherent in pinpointing the onset and course of progressive environmental injury, traditional liability insurance contract language did not resolve the question of when an ""occurrence"" takes place in that context. In Owens-Illinois, Inc. v. United Insurance Co., 138 N.J. 437 (1994), we adopted the continuous-trigger theory, which posits that such injury occurs during each phase of environmental contamination from exposure to manifestation. Id. at 451. We held such injury to be an ""occurrence"" triggering each applicable insurance policy. We likewise devised a method to quantify the amount of injury to which each policy would be required to respond, thereafter allowing long-tail environmental damage to fall within the ordinary insurance paradigm (coverage for losses within the policy period in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable insurance contract). In Carter-Wallace, Inc. v. Admiral Insurance Co., 154 N.J. 312 (1998), we applied the Owens-Illinois methodology to evaluate the relative responsibility of primary and excess insurers, holding that although damages are determined without reference to excess layers, each layer of excess insurance must be exhausted in each policy year before the next layer is reached. This case presents the novel issue of whether, in a long tail environmental exposure case, an insured must satisfy the full deductible for each triggered policy before it is entitled to indemnity from the insurer, or whether the deductibles should be allocated in some fashion. The trial court and the Appellate Division both held that the full per-occurrence deductible in each triggered policy must be satisfied before the insured is entitled to indemnity. Because that conclusion fully accords with what we envisioned in Owens-Illinois, we now affirm.