Arizona has not addressed the issue of allocation of claims when occurrences span many coverage years and trigger many policies. However, several other state and federal courts have addressed these issues in the context of environmental torts and asbestos exposure. Two distinct approaches have emerged from these cases: joint and several liability or "all sums" and a pro rata or proportional approach.
Several states have adopted the joint and several or "all sums" approach to allocating damages incurred against the insured to the various insurance policies that could cover the claim.
A. Joint and Several
Under joint and several liability as applied to insurance policies, just like the common law doctrine of joint and several liability that requires all or one of the tortfeasors to pay damages to the injured party, the insured can choose any policy or several policies and whichever carrier's policies are chosen, the selected insurance policies pay up to their limits until the claim is...
