Most insurance policies for charter schools consist of two coverage forms that determine how the policy will respond to a claim: occurrence and a claims-made.   We want to spend the next two posts explaining these forms and how they can affect your charter school in case of a claim.

Occurrence Form

Occurrence form is the most common type of coverage form for commercial insurance. Aside from professional and executive liability policies, the occurrence is the prevailing coverage on almost every other approach.

The term “occurrence” relates to the moment the claim/injury happens. Then, once the date of “occurrence” is established, the policyholder knows which policy (or policies) will respond to the incident.   The approach in force at the time of the incident will be the one to defend the policyholder and possibly pay the damages resulting from the claim.

Unfortunately, as simple as the concept sounds, several legal theories are used to identify when the claim occurs. Every state is other, and any one of the following precedents could be used to determine the occurrence date:

1. Injury-in-Fact: Some states consider that the date of ANY actual bodily injury or property damage is the date of occurrence, regardless of the date of manifestation. (For example, the day the nail was driven into the electrical wire.)

2. Manifestation Theory: Most states consider the date the injury manifests itself or becomes evident as the occurrence. (i.e., the day the fire starts because of the nail driven into it. )

3. Exposure or Continuous Trigger Theory: Known by two different names, this is when the courts consider dates of exposure as the dates of occurrence. This usually means multiple occurrence dates and policies will be involved in the litigation and settlement of the claim. These types of claims rarely, if ever, affect charter schools. This primarily applies to suits for pollution or other incidents with a potential for a long exposure period.

For charter schools,  any of the triggers could apply depending on your policy and the type of claim. However, as most charter schools’ shares fall under general liability and business auto policies, it’s easy to determine which approach will respond.