Insurance Coverage for Food Contamination and Recall Claims Under CGL, Property, and Contamination Policies

High-profile food contamination claims result first in devastating reputational damage and may be followed by a flood of class actions, shareholder suits, or criminal investigations. Claims result in regulatory investigations, expensive product recalls, and liquidity issues. Product contamination and recall claims impact every brand and business on the affected food supply chain, including farms, restaurants, grocery stores, food processors and manufacturers.

For companies facing food contamination and recall crisis management events, insurance coverage is essential to mitigating losses and the inevitable liquidity crunch. CGL, property, stock throughput, and specialty contamination/recall policies could be triggered for different reasons in a contamination claim and recall event.

Coverage is very fact-specific and highly dependent on the policy language. Counsel for both policyholders and insurers must be prepared to understand the scope of these policies, coverage triggers, relevant exclusions, and applicable conditions to best represent their respective clients in contamination and recall events and litigation.

Listen as our panel of insurance practitioners discusses the key coverage issues in food contamination and product recall claims. The panel will analyze the scope of first- and third-party coverage, coverage triggers, relevant exclusions, applicable conditions, and policy language interpretation under CGL, property, and contamination policies from both policyholder and insurer perspectives.

1. CGL policies
   1. Third-party coverage for bodily injury
   2. Third-party coverage for property damage
2. First-party property policies
3. Direct physical loss
   1. Contamination exclusion
4. Product contamination policies
   1. Coverage trigger: Is actual contamination required? What about "potential" bodily injury? What is an "error"?
5. Coverage for preventive recalls
6. Coverage for adverse publicity

The panel will review these and other key issues:

• Coverage for third-party injuries
• Coverage for first-party damages
• Coverage issues and challenges for preventive recalls
• Coverage issues and challenges for damages arising from adverse publicity