Few, if any, provisions in liability insurance policies are as consequential as the definition of "occurrence."

The significance of that term lies not only in its meaning, but also in the context in which a dispute arises. Indeed, whether a loss involves a single occurrence or many often determines whether excess coverage is triggered, whether multiple self-insured retentions or deductibles must be satisfied, and ultimately whether an insurance company — or often, which insurance company — owes millions of dollars in defense and indemnity coverage.

...

Read more here.