What is an Occurrence Form Policy?

An Occurrence Form policy is the most common Commercial General Liability form. This form helps protect the business if someone gets hurt or property gets damaged during the time the insurance policy is in effect, no matter when the claim for that damage is made.

To understand if this insurance applies to a situation, you only need to ask one question: Did the incident happen while the policy was active? If the answer is yes, insurance is triggered. It doesn't matter if the claim is made a long time after the policy has ended, the key is that the incident happened while it was active.

Scenario

Let's say you own an auto dealership. A customer trips over a welcome mat while entering the lobby and gets hurt. They decide to sue you for their injuries one year later. Even if you no longer have the insurance policy at the time they sue you, as long as you had it when the accident happened, the insurance will be triggered.