The Lawsuit Came This Year but Which Insurance Year Matters?

A company installs equipment in 2023. A customer notices damage in 2025 and doesn't send a formal claim until 2026. The company changed its insurer in 2024 and has a current certificate showing $2 million of liability protection. The business owner gives that certificate to a lawyer and assumes the insurer will know what to do. The lawyer asks for the policy that existed when the damage happened. That request can seem strange if the lawsuit only arrived this year. It makes sense once the business separates an occurrence policy from a claims made policy. The policies aren't interchangeable labels for the same promise, and different coverage parts of the insurance program can respond to different events. The date the work was performed is the beginning, but it isn't necessarily the trigger for every policy.