## Facts

- A minor, through her mother, sued the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and a priest, alleging repeated sexual abuse over nearly six years in multiple locations, including church areas, a vehicle, and two homes.
- The Diocese settled the tort action for $2 million plus additional consideration.
- National Union issued three consecutive one-year CGL policies covering 1995–1998; other insurers provided primary coverage for later years and excess coverage across the period.
- National Union’s policies covered damages for bodily injury during the policy period, with a $750,000 per-occurrence limit and a $250,000 self-insured retention (SIR) per occurrence.
- The policies did not include an express provision aggregating multiple incidents into a single occurrence.
- After settlement, the Diocese sought indemnification and certain defense costs; National Union denied, asserting multiple occurrences spanning multiple policy years and requiring separate SIRs and pro rata allocation.

## Issues

1. Whether the alleged repeated sexual abuse constituted a single occurrence or multiple occurrences under the CGL policies.
2. Whether liability for the settlement had to be allocated pro rata across the policy periods triggered by bodily injury, with a separate SIR for each implicated policy.
3. Whether the insurer waived its multiple-occurrence and allocation/SIR defenses by not stating them in its initial coverage disclaimer.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed the Appellate Division.
- The court held the abuse allegations involved multiple occurrences, not a single occurrence.
- The court required pro rata allocation of potential liability across the triggered policy periods and application of separate SIRs for each implicated policy.
- The court rejected the Diocese’s waiver argument because the insurer’s position concerned the extent of coverage (allocation/limits/SIRs), not a denial based on exclusions or policy conditions.

## Legal Principles

- Under New York’s “unfortunate event” test, the number of occurrences turns on whether incidents share close temporal and spatial relationships and form a single causal continuum without meaningful separation.
- Repeated harmful acts separated by substantial time and occurring in multiple, non-contiguous locations may constitute multiple occurrences, even if involving a single victim and similar conduct.
- Where a policy covers bodily injury “during the policy period” and injury spans multiple years, liability may be allocated pro rata among triggered policy periods.
- Absent policy language aggregating incidents, per-occurrence SIRs and limits apply separately to each implicated policy period as determined by the allocation.
- Waiver rules governing timely disclaimers do not generally bar an insurer from asserting defenses about the amount or allocation of coverage, as distinguished from defenses that negate coverage based on exclusions or conditions.

## Conclusion

The court treated long-running, episodic sexual abuse across different times and places as multiple occurrences, required pro rata allocation across the triggered policy years with separate self-insured retentions, and held the insurer did not waive these extent-of-coverage defenses by omission from an initial disclaimer.


Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 21 N.Y.3d 139 (N.Y. 2013)