What is Occurrence?

Occurrence is an accident or event that results in bodily injury or property damage, or a series of related events that result in the same type of harm.

What You Need to Know

One occurrence could be a single slip-and-fall accident, or it could be 20 people getting food poisoning from one contaminated food batch—insurers may treat related events as one occurrence.

Why It Matters for Restaurant Owners

Understanding what constitutes an occurrence helps you grasp how policy limits apply. If 50 customers get food poisoning from one contaminated food source, that’s likely one occurrence, meaning your $1 million per-occurrence limit applies to all 50 claims combined, not $1 million per person.

Multiple Occurrences:

However, 50 unrelated slip-and-fall accidents throughout the year would be 50 separate occurrences, each subject to your per-occurrence limit (but collectively limited by your aggregate limit).