Course / Program Material2007 TIPS 15th Annual Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Program - Tucson AZBarry's paper looks at how claims of repeated sexual abuse generate unique coverage issues. Sexual abuse claims, Barry contends, involve certain features that distinguish them from other, more usual bodily injury claims. For example, sexual abuse claims frequently involve allegations of repeated acts of abuse over a period of many years. Accordingly, as with environmental tort claims, sexual abuse claims can trigger numerous insurance policies that were in effect during the long years of abuse. In addition, sexual abuse claims often involve allegations of abuse committed as long ago as thirty or forty years, raising the issue, for instance, of the determination of coverage without a policy (the law of lost policies). In addition, where policies cannot be located or no proof of policy exists, the gaps in coverage creates significant issues regarding the allocation of settlements/judgments among the various insurers and the policyholder. The sensitive nature of abuse claims, and the fact that they often attract wide media attention can make it trickier to negotiate and resolve both the coverage issues and the underlying abuse claims themselves. The stakes can therefore be quite high for an insurer whose misconduct in responding to a claim can devastate the insured.