Background
The J.M. Smucker Company purchased commercial general liability insurance from Ace American Insurance Company to protect against bodily injuries from bacterial contamination. In two thousand and twenty-two, Smucker recalled peanut butter products due to potential salmonella contamination, leading to thousands of claims. Ace denied coverage, arguing each claimant’s exposure was a separate occurrence, which would require Smucker to pay retained limits for two hundred and twenty-five production lots before coverage triggered. Smucker filed suit seeking a declaration that the outbreak was a single occurrence.
The court’s reasoning
The court reviewed the summary judgment de novo. It first analyzed the policy definition of occurrence, concluding that the accident was Smucker’s unintentional production of contaminated peanut butter, not the claimants’ consumption. The court applied Ohio’s cause test, which looks to the proximate cause of injury rather than the number of claims. Finally, the court found the Lot Endorsement ambiguous because it was unclear whether it redefined occurrence or merely aggregated claims, and under Ohio law, ambiguous insurance provisions are construed in favor of the insured.
Because the insurance policies’ definition of occurrence and the Ohio cause test dictate that there is one occurrence in this case, we AFFIRM.
J.M. Smucker Co. v. Ace Am. Ins. Co., No. 25-3799 (6th Cir. July 1, 2026)
What it means going forward
The ruling ensures that businesses facing mass torts from a single contamination event are not forced to exhaust multiple retained limits before insurance coverage applies, provided the policy language and state law support a single occurrence finding.