A Missouri court dismissed an insurance claim by a drug manufacturer which had promoted the sale of opioid products because the “your products” exclusion expressly included not only “products” but also “representations” the drugmaker made about its products.
The drugmaker had promoted opioid product use and sales in general and not only its own products, in order to boost the sale of its own products. These “unbranded” representations about the safety and efficacy of opioids in general encompassed the drugmaker’s own products, therefore the exclusion of “your products” applied.
The exclusion used “arising out of” language. The court said that under Missouri law “arising out of” is “interpreted broadly to mean ‘originating from,’ or ‘having its origins in,’ or ‘growing out of’ or ‘flowing from’ and includes a much broader spectrum than the term ‘caused by’ or the concept of proximate causation”. The drugmaker faced liability concerning injury that arose out of its representations and the claim against various insurers was dismissed.
The wide and sometimes useful phrase “arising out of” has a similar meaning in South Africa.