The retroactive nature of long-tail claims makes occurrence-based CGL policies (commercial general liability insurance policies) very valuable to business owners, churches, school boards and landlords. These policies became available on the American market in the 1940’s. For an occurrence-based CGL policy to provide defense or indemnity, the property damage or bodily injury that triggers the policy must occur within the policy period. However, where the damage or injury does not become evident until years later (as often is the case with environmental damage, product liability or sexual misconduct scenarios), this insurance policy will still respond to a properly filed claim notice.
The commercial general liability policy insures business owners against claims made by parties damaged by the conduct of his employees, his products or his waste products provided that the damage occurs during the policy period and it is not the type of damage excluded under the language of the policy. Even where the employee’s sexual misconduct does not become evident some twenty years after the occurrence, this policy can still provide defense and indemnity. Even where the underground storage tank’s leak goes undiscovered for thirty years, as of the date the leak is discovered, the business owner can file a claim under his CGL policy issued the date the leak began. Even where the business owner’s product is not revealed as harmful for forty years, once its harmful effects surface, a claim can be filed under this policy issued when it was placed in the stream of commerce.
These are some very good reasons to treat your occurrence based commercial general liability policy like a valuable business asset. Yet often, business owners treat the CGL policy as if it had no value after its expiration date and they discard it with expired fire insurance policies to make room for new document storage. Should they try to obtain a copy of the policy at a later date they often find that the insurance broker issuing the policy has failed to keep a copy in his archives. Further, just knowing the identity of the underwriter does not provide the basis for an appropriately filed claim. Insurers receiving claim notices under commercial general liability policies without identifying policy numbers and policy periods typically reject the claim because they lack adequate information with which to locate the policy in their files.
Jeff Carnahan, L.P.G.
President
Jeff Carnahan is a Licensed Professional Geologist (LPG) with over 20 years of environmental consulting and remediation experience and is currently serving PolicyFind and our clients as President. Jeff has contributed to the success and growth of PolicyFind through strategic market analysis and corporate risk management, as well as encouraging and upholding a superior level of technical expertise. Throughout his career Jeff has provided technical support to the legal community. He has served as a consulting and testifying expert regarding the cause, origin, timing, and cost of environmental releases, as well as cost-recovery claims on behalf of insurance policyholders.
Kristen Drake
Managing Director
Kristen Drake is a solutions-driven client advocate with nearly 20 years of research and operational management experience. In her role as Managing Director and Lead Insurance Archeologist, Kristen works directly with policyholders facing long-tail environmental demands and mass tort lawsuits arising from asbestos exposure and latent sexual abuse and misconduct claims. Kristen has successfully documented liability insurance programs for hundreds of clients, including nationally-based youth organizations, religious and educational institutions, manufacturers, developers, and drycleaners.
Dru Carlisle
Account Executive & Insurance Archeologist
For over a decade, Dru has assisted hundreds of business and property owners facing regulatory action, as they navigate and manage environmental liability. Through her direct work with clients searching for lost or misplaced historic insurance policies, Dru has seen first-hand the value of Insurance Archeology, driving her to leave no stone unturned in her search for viable insurance policies.
David O'Neill, J.D.
Director of Investigations
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Calvin Kelly
Director of Client Claims
Calvin Kelly has 25+ years of experience in environmental liability management and consulting. Calvin’s multidisciplinary and technical roles have spanned across organizations such as startups, government agencies and corporations. His projects focus on Brownfields redevelopment, strategic management of environmental claims, environmental due diligence and property transactions, and economic development.
Joseph M. Junfola, CPCU
Insurance Analyst
Joseph Junfola’s insurance claim career spans 43+ years with experience managing, directly or in a supervisory capacity, commercial and personal lines of insurance claims. For the last 29 years, he has specialized in commercial long-term exposure or continuous property damage, bodily injury and personal injury claims on a national basis primarily involving construction defect, environmental, toxic tort, product liability, and design professional liability claims. He frequently collaborates with underwriting professionals to draft and redraft policy language. His experience also includes construction accident claims, particularly third-party-over actions in New York.
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Joseph has achieved many professional milestones in his career including a published book on construction defect claims and numerous articles. Joseph is an instructor at the Academy of Insurance creating and delivering webinars and is an adjunct lecturer at Borough of Manhattan Community College – CUNY, Business Management Department, and will be teaching Principles of Risk Management and Insurance and Property and Liability Insurance Principles.
Joseph is also an associate member of the American Association of Insurance Consultants, a Fellow at the Claims and Litigation Management Alliance and a member of the Professional Liability Defense Federation.
Kristen Drake
Managing Director
Kristen Drake is a solutions-driven client advocate with nearly 20 years of research and operational management experience. In her role as Managing Director and Lead Insurance Archeologist, Kristen works directly with policyholders facing long-tail environmental demands and mass tort lawsuits arising from asbestos exposure and latent sexual abuse and misconduct claims. Kristen has successfully documented liability insurance programs for hundreds of clients, including nationally-based youth organizations, religious and educational institutions, manufacturers, developers, and drycleaners.
Paul Fassler
Senior Insurance Specialist