Brown & James attorneys secured summary judgment for their insurance client in a case involving spoiled, ready-to-drink aronia berry juice. Plaintiff had several hundred gallons of juice aseptically processed at a plant in Wisconsin. The juice was then shipped from Wisconsin to a warehouse in Nevada, where it was stored for several months. The juice was then shipped to a processing facility in California, and upon arrival it was discovered that the juice had leaked from the totes it was hauled in. Defendant Travelers had issued inland marine and property policies of insurance to Plaintiff, which were in effect when the juice was shipped from Wisconsin to Nevada. However, the Travelers policies had expired while the juice was stored in Nevada, and Plaintiff has secured policies of insurance from co-Defendants Atlantic and Sentinel, which were in effect at the time of the manifestation of the loss. Plaintiff immediately put Atlantic and Sentinel on notice of the loss, but delayed notifying Travelers for several months. Experts hired by Atlantic and Sentinel, as well as other experts, had the opportunity to inspect the damaged product, which was subsequently destroyed before Plaintiff notified Travelers of the loss. Travelers denied Plaintiff’s first-party insurance claim because the discovery of the loss did not occur during the effective dates of its policies. Plaintiff sued Travelers for breach of contract, for declaratory judgment that there was coverage under the policies, and for vexatious refusal to pay penalties. Plaintiff claimed approximately $1.2 million in property damage and loss of business income, plus vexatious refusal to pay penalties. Plaintiff and Travelers filed cross motions for summary judgment. After reviewing the extensive written briefs and considering oral arguments, Judge John M. Torrence, of the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, granted summary judgment in favor of Travelers and against Plaintiff on all counts. The Court accepted the arguments made on Travelers’ behalf, and found there was no coverage for Plaintiff’s claim because 1) Plaintiff did not provide prompt notice to Travelers as required under the policies; and 2) the loss did not occur within the Travelers policy period. Plaintiff had argued that the proximate cause of the loss was improper packaging of the juice, which took place in Wisconsin during Travelers’ policy period, which implicated coverage under the plain language of Travelers’ policies because the “acts committed” that caused the loss occurred when the policies were in effect, and so the date of the discovery of loss did not matter. We argued on behalf of Travelers, that due to the “manifestation doctrine,” a loss is not said to “occur” until the loss manifests, which is that point in time when a reasonable insured would understand it had suffered a loss. They also argued that Travelers was prejudiced as a matter of law by Plaintiff’s delayed notice of the claim.