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(Article from Insurance Law Alert, October 2017)

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The Eleventh Circuit ruled that multiple personal injuries caused by the unsanitary repacking of eye medication constituted a single “claim” under an insurance policy.  Amercian Cas. Co. of Reading, PA v. Belcher, 2017 WL 4276057 (11^th Cir. Sept. 27, 2017).  The policy provided that related claims shall be considered a single claim and defined “related claim” as “all claims arising out of a single act, error or omission.”  The court concluded that eye injury claims by several patients were “related,” notwithstanding that the syringes were prepared on different dates, the patients received injections on different dates, the patients received two different types of medication, and the patients were infected with at least two different strains of bacteria.  The court reasoned that, under Florida law, “arising out of” means originating from and does not require proximate causation.  Applying this standard, the court held that the patients’ claims were logically and causally connected because the syringes were all prepared in the same place, by the same person, using the same process, and involving the same health and safety violations.  Therefore, the policyholder’s coverage was limited to a single $1 million per claim limit, rather than $3 million in aggregate coverage.