918 N.W.2d 885
Wis.2018Background
- May 16, 2013: the "Germann Road Fire" ignited on Lyme St. Croix Forest Co. land, burned ~7,442 acres over three days, and damaged real and personal property of multiple owners.
- Fire allegedly began in logging equipment owned by Ray Duerr Logging, LLC (Duerr).
- Secura insured Duerr under a Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy with a $2 million general aggregate limit and a Logging and Lumbering endorsement reducing the per-occurrence limit to $500,000 for property damage due to fire arising from logging operations.
- Secura sought declaratory relief that the fire was a single "occurrence" under the CGL (so the $500,000 per-occurrence limit applied) and that the umbrella policy provided no coverage.
- The circuit court and court of appeals held the fire constituted multiple occurrences (applying the $2 million aggregate). The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed, holding the fire was a single occurrence and the $500,000 per-occurrence limit applies.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (Secura) | Defendant's Argument (Lyme St. Croix / others) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the Germann Road Fire is a single "occurrence" under the CGL policy or multiple occurrences as it crossed property lines | The fire was one uninterrupted cause; under the cause theory it is a single occurrence so the $500,000 per-occurrence limit applies | The fire produced a separate occurrence each time it spread to and damaged a new parcel; damages to multiple owners create multiple occurrences so the $2M aggregate applies | Fire is a single occurrence under the cause theory; $500,000 per-occurrence limit applies |
Key Cases Cited
- Plastics Eng'g Co. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 315 Wis.2d 556 (Wis. 2009) (repeated, temporally/geographically separate exposures can be distinct occurrences)
- Wilson Mut. Ins. Co. v. Falk, 360 Wis.2d 67 (Wis. 2014) (applies cause theory; held contamination per well can be separate occurrences)
- Welter v. Singer, 126 Wis.2d 242 (Ct. App. 1985) (single occurrence when cause and effect are closely linked in time and space)
- Olsen v. Moore, 56 Wis.2d 340 (Wis. 1973) (articulates cause theory: single uninterrupted cause = single occurrence)
- Denham v. La Salle-Madison Hotel Co., 168 F.2d 576 (7th Cir. 1948) (fire damaging multiple rooms treated as single occurrence)
- Barrett v. Iowa Nat'l Mut. Ins. Co., 264 F.2d 224 (9th Cir. 1959) (single fire damaging multiple tenants is one accident)