Question...
I have a claim for a building that is used for accommodation for seasonal workers.
It©s apparent that these guests apply oil to their bodies after they shower. The oil has dripped from the guests© bodies onto the floor, staining it but only becoming visible after a period of some months. This hasn©t happened before and is likely the cause by a single certain product (or a particular batch of that product) shared amongst the guests. The oil cannot be cleaned off and the carpet must be replaced.
The damage is in 13 rooms of the building.
The insurer has agreed to meet the claim but cites 13 separate events/excesses. The insurer states the cause of each room©s damage is a separate action, so a separate event. The insurer also states that it is incorrect to assume that the damage occurred at the same time, despite the damage appearing at the same time.
The policy defines an event as "an event or series of events arising from one source or original cause".
Is the one source the oil?
Is the original cause the guests applying the oil and it dripping on the floor?
Is this one event or a series of events?
REPLY... Crossley Gates
An event has been defined by the courts as something that happens at a particular time, in a particular place and in a particular way. Each incident of oil dropping onto the carpet, marking it, will be an event.
It is likely that the marks have built up over a period of time and will involve multiple events. How many, no one will probably ever be able to establish. I can’t see the logic of linking the number of events to the number of rooms - there seems to be no connection between the two.
As there probably has been a series of events, do they arise from the same source or original cause? If all the evidence points to the tenants allowing excess oil to drip from their bodies, then I would have thought that is one original cause. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities only one excess applies.
