Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America v. RSUI Indemnity Co., 844 F. Supp. 2d 933

Travelers and RSUI insured Valley Meats; Strike and Fenstermaker plaintiffs settled for claims arising from tainted ground beef.
Travelers paid an extra $500,000 above its per-occurrence limit to preserve recoupment if Strike and Fenstermaker claims were a single occurrence.
RSUI, as excess insurer, seeks to avoid reimbursement by arguing two separate occurrences.
Policy definitions: both policies cover bodily injury and define occurrence as an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same harmful conditions.
Contested issue: whether Strike’s and Fenstermaker’s injuries stem from a single occurrence (manufacture/sale of tainted meat) or two occurrences under the Travelers policy.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Strike and Fenstermaker injuries constitute one occurrence.	Travelers: single cause—the tainted meat; one occurrence under Nicor.	RSUI: use time-and-space test from Addison; injuries may be separate.	Travelers prevails; single occurrence under Nicor.
Applicable test for determining occurrence under policy (cause theory vs. time-and-space).	Nicor cause-theory governs; damages from a single defective product.	Addison time-and-space may apply where ongoing omission; two injuries may be separate.	Nicor governs; no ongoing omission; single occurrence.
Whether the alleged negligent act was a discrete production of one batch or ongoing omission.	Valley Meats produced a single batch of tainted meat.	RSUI argues broader ongoing-omission concept may apply.	negligent act was discrete production; supports single occurrence.

Nicor, Inc. v. Associated Elec. And Gas Insur. Services, Ltd., 223 Ill.2d 407 (Ill. 2006) (cause-theory for number of occurrences; single-caused losses vs. multiple losses)
Addison Ins. Co. v. Fay, 282 Ill.2d 446 (Ill. 2009) (time-and-space test for ongoing omissions; limits bundling of injuries into one occurrence)