## Facts

- J.H. France Refractories Company and its subsidiary manufactured and sold asbestos-containing products for years; a claimant alleged exposure to those products over decades and later developed asbestos-related disease.
- During the relevant period, J.H. France was insured under successive occurrence-based comprehensive general liability (CGL) policies issued by multiple insurers.
- The policies covered “all sums” the insured became legally obligated to pay as damages because of “bodily injury” caused by an “occurrence,” defined to include continuous or repeated exposure to harmful conditions.
- After suit was filed by the claimant’s estate, J.H. France sought defense and indemnity from its insurers; several denied coverage, leading to consolidated declaratory judgment actions.
- Trial evidence described asbestos disease as a progressive process with bodily injury occurring at multiple stages (initial exposure and fiber deposition, tissue changes, clinical disease, and death), not at a single identifiable point.

## Issues

1. In asbestos bodily-injury claims under occurrence-based CGL policies, whether coverage is triggered only upon manifestation or at multiple points in the disease process.
2. When multiple policy periods are triggered, whether indemnity may be allocated pro rata (including to the insured for uninsured years) or whether a triggered insurer must pay “all sums” up to limits.
3. Whether courts may assign the insured a “self-insurance” share for periods without coverage.
4. How the duty to defend operates when more than one insurer’s policy is triggered.
5. Whether insurers acted in bad faith by initially refusing to defend and indemnify.

## Decision

- The court adopted a multiple-trigger rule for asbestos bodily injury: each policy in effect during any stage of the disease process (exposure through manifestation) is triggered.
- The court held that “all sums” language requires any triggered insurer to indemnify the insured for the full amount of liability (subject to policy limits); court-imposed pro rata allocation among policies is improper.
- The court rejected allocating loss to the insured as a self-insurer for uninsured periods absent contractual language authorizing such allocation.
- Any triggered insurer has a duty to defend; insurers may decide among themselves who will provide the defense, and if they cannot agree, the insured may select the defending insurer.
- The court found no insurer bad faith given the unsettled state of asbestos-coverage law when coverage was denied.

## Legal Principles

- For latent, progressive asbestos-related bodily injury, occurrence-based CGL coverage is triggered at multiple points in the injury process, not solely at manifestation.
- Where a policy promises to pay “all sums” because of bodily injury occurring during the policy period, a triggered insurer is liable for the entire covered loss up to its limits; allocation disputes are for insurer-to-insurer contribution, not reduction of the insured’s coverage.
- Courts may not impose pro rata indemnity allocation or assign uninsured-period shares to the insured without policy language supporting that result.
- The duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify; if the complaint potentially implicates coverage during a policy period, each triggered insurer owes a defense obligation.
- Absent clear governing precedent, an insurer’s denial based on a reasonable legal position in a developing area does not establish bad faith.

## Conclusion

The court held that asbestos claims trigger all occurrence-based CGL policies in force during the disease’s development and that the insured may obtain full defense and “all sums” indemnity from any triggered insurer up to limits, with any cost-sharing left to contribution among insurers rather than judicial allocation to other policies or the insured.


J.H. France Refractories Co. v. Allstate Ins. Co., 626 A.2d 502 (Pa. 1993)