Wade Clark Mulcahy LLP

There aren't many product recall decisions out there, but every once in a while they come along. In the Fresh Express case in California, contaminated spinach was at issue. The trial court ruled for the insured and awarded policy limits of $12,000,000. The case went up on appeal and the California appellate division has now just<a href="http://www.courthousenews.com/2011/10/06/freshexpress.pdf">weighed in</a>. The appellate division reversed the trial court. Of significance, the appellate division held that not every contamination is an insured event, i.e. not every contamination is accidental thereby triggering coverage. This is good news for product recall insurers as insureds (and courts) have a tendency to equate the two.
For more information about this post or WCM's product recall practice, please contact Bob Cosgrove at <a href="mailto:rcosgrove@wcmlaw.com">rcosgrove@wcmlaw.com</a>.