Occurrence Requirement under General Liability Coverage Form

The motion before the court was from the insurer seeking a declaration that it did not owe the insured a duty to defend or to indemnify based on the claims filed against it. The court had to address the issues of the whether an occurrence happened and if so, whether the business activities exclusions applied. This case is Allstate Insurance Company v. Harkleroad, 2010 WL 2076941 (S.D.Ga.).

Allstate filed a declaratory judgment action seeking clarification under liability policies it issued to the Claxtons. The Claxtons are defendants in a lawsuit filed by Harkleroad in which she alleged that the Claxtons sold her a piece of property without informing her of past and/or present damage to the home due to wood decaying fungus.