Property and Casualty Insurance · Casualty Insurance · 6 min read
Occurrence and Claims-Made Triggers
- Differentiate how an occurrence trigger and a claims-made trigger activate coverage under a Commercial General Liability contract.
- Explain the role of the retroactive date in a claims-made policy and the effect of maintaining or changing it.
- Describe how the Basic and Supplemental Extended Reporting Periods function to prevent coverage gaps when claims-made coverage ends.
Understanding Policy Triggers and the Occurrence Form
Commercial General Liability (CGL) coverage is written on either an occurrence form or a claims-made form. The policy trigger is the specific event that activates liability coverage under the contract. In liability insurance, understanding which policy responds depends directly on this mechanism.
Under standard ISO occurrence CGL Coverage A, bodily injury or property damage must occur during the policy period; Coverage B instead looks to when the covered offense was committed. Under an occurrence form, bodily injury must be caused by an occurrence, which means an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to harmful conditions. The standard ISO occurrence CGL form does not use a retroactive date.
Under an occurrence form, the date the claim is made does not determine which policy responds. An occurrence policy can cover bodily injury or property damage that occurred during its term even if the claim is made after expiration, subject to the policy terms and applicable legal deadlines. For instance, if a customer slips and sustains an injury in a retail store during the 2024 policy period, that 2024 policy responds even if the injured party waits two years to demand compensation.
Common mistakes
- Believing that an extended reporting period covers accidents or bodily injuries that take place during the tail period itself.
- Assuming that giving notice of an occurrence to an insurer qualifies as making a formal claim under a claims-made policy.
- Thinking that an occurrence policy requires a retroactive date to limit coverage for past events.
- Assuming that the Basic Extended Reporting Period requires an additional premium payment or a formal written request.
Key points
- Under standard ISO occurrence CGL, Coverage A looks to bodily injury or property damage occurring during the policy period, while Coverage B looks to when the covered offense was committed; a claim may be made later, subject to other policy terms.
- Under standard ISO claims-made CGL, bodily injury or property damage must not occur before an applicable retroactive date or after the policy period, and a covered offense must not be committed before that date or after the policy period. The claim must be first made during the policy period or an applicable extended reporting period.
- The claims-made declarations show a retroactive date or state that there is none. Moving an existing date forward can create a gap for earlier injury, damage, or covered offenses; maintaining it can preserve eligibility for prior acts coverage, subject to the policy's other requirements.
- Extended reporting periods (tail coverage) extend the timeframe for making claims for earlier covered events, but they never extend the policy term or cover new accidents.
- The Basic Extended Reporting Period applies automatically without extra cost, providing 60 days for unreported occurrences and five years for occurrences reported within 60 days.
- The Supplemental Extended Reporting Period is an optional endorsement providing an unlimited reporting window, reinstating aggregate policy limits, and requiring a written request within 60 days.
Practice this section
Explained Casualty Insurance questions, no account needed. Casualty Insurance practice test
The full lesson continues with 3 more sections with exam tips, audio in English and Spanish, 5 Check yourself questions and 20 flashcards.
- 1 month
$53.99$26.99 - 3 months
$158.99$79.49 - Lifetime
$323.99$161.99
One payment, no subscription.
See Property and Casualty plansAlready a member? Log in
Sample lesson: Risk and Ways to Manage It25 practice questions on this exam
Each Property and Casualty practice test has 25 original questions with the answers explained. No account needed.
Open the Property and Casualty practice testsOriginal lesson written for Property and Casualty Insurance practice · updated October 29, 2026. Exam names are trademarks of their owners; tests.global is not affiliated with them.