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Anti-Concurrent Causation Clauses
Anti-concurrent causation clauses (“ACC clauses”) in all-risk first-party property policies were developed to contractually exclude coverage under a policy for a loss caused by a combination of covered and excluded causes of loss. ACC clauses generally preclude coverage for a loss where an excluded peril contributes directly or indirectly to a cause of loss “regardless of any other cause or event that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to the loss.” As explained in the following excerpt from the IRMI Glossary of Insurance and Risk Management Terms, www.irmi.com, the clause applies:
' either in sequential-cause situations, where the first event sets in motion a chain of events that causes a second event that causes the loss, or concurrent-cause situations, where two or more causes of loss happen simultaneously to produce the same injury or damage. If any cause of loss falls within the terms of a policy exclusion that is accompanied by ACC language, the loss will be excluded, regardless of whether another unexcluded cause of loss qualifies as the “proximate cause” under the jurisdiction's common law rules.
In other words, the ACC clause eliminates the need for an analysis of proximate causation or concurrent causation where the excluded peril contributes in any way or in any sequence to a loss. This article constitutes an overall review of ACC clauses in first-party property policies and their application across the United States. Most courts have found ACC clauses to be enforceable, although a handful of states have held that insurers may not contractually opt out of the state's causation doctrines, i.e., efficient proximate cause or concurrent causation. These clauses have not been uniformly interpreted due to the lack of uniformity in the manner in which states approach causation. See Garden State Indem. Co. v. Miller & Pincus, 340 N.J. Super. 148 (App. Div. 2001), and The Enigma of Causation in Insurance Contract Interpretation, IRMI, January 2003.
Origins of ACC Clauses
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