The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Germann Road Fire, in towns of Gordon and Highland in Douglas County and the town of Barnes in Bayfield County, constitutes a single occurrence pursuant to the commercial general liability policy.

Consequently, the $500,000 per-occurrence limit for property damage applies in the case of Secura Insurance v. Lyme St Croix Forest Company LLC.

The ruling reversed a lower court decision that concluded that the $2 million aggregate limit applied.

Secura sought relief from an earlier decision of the court of appeals affirming the circuit court's interlocutory order that determined the fire at issue constituted multiple occurrences instead of a single occurrence.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals had reasoned that under Secura's commercial general liability policy, there was an occurrence each time the fire spread to a new piece of real property and caused damage and that the $2 million aggregate limit applied rather than the $500,000 per-occurrence limit for property damage due to fire arising from logging and lumbering operations.

The Supreme Court concluded “that the fire at issue constitutes a single occurrence pursuant to the CGL policy. Consequently, the $500,000 per-occurrence limit for property damage applies.”

On May 16, 2013, a fire broke out on forest land owned by Lyme St. Croix Forest Co. Known as the Germann Road Fire, it burned 7,442 acres over the course of three days. Real and personal property belonging to many individuals and businesses sustained damage.

At the time of the fire, Secura insured Ray Duerr Logging LLC under both a commercial general liability with a $2 million aggregate policy and an umbrella policy with a $1 million per-occurrence limit.

The CGL policy, however, also incorporated a "Logging and Lumbering Operations Endorsement," which   reduced that limit to $500,000 for property damage "due to fire, arising from logging or lumbering operations. ..."

“This case presents the issue of whether the Germann Road Fire constitutes a single occurrence for purposes of the CGL policy, or whether there was instead a new occurrence each time the fire crossed a property line,” the Supreme Court said in its decision.

“Our conclusion that the fire here constitutes a single occurrence is buttressed by decisions from other jurisdictions likewise determining a fire destroying the property of multiple claimants to be a single occurrence,” it ruled, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley writing for the court.