Claims-made policies typically include a retroactive date, and the policy generally only covers claims arising from conduct occurring on or after that date. When an insured switches to a new carrier, the new policy's default retroactive date is often the policy's own start date, which would exclude conduct from before the switch even though the insured was covered by a different insurer at the time. Prior acts coverage moves the retroactive date backward — often to match the expiring policy's original retroactive date — so continuity of coverage is preserved across the transition.

Prior acts coverage is the mirror image of tail coverage: rather than extending the old policy's reporting window forward, it extends the new policy's coverage backward, and insureds switching carriers typically choose one mechanism or the other (rarely both) to close the same potential gap. Underwriters evaluate prior acts requests carefully because they assume risk for conduct they had no opportunity to underwrite or price at the time it occurred.

In Juricratic, the retroactive date functions as a hard boundary condition on the coverage-dispute branch, similar to a statute of limitations bar — conduct modeled as occurring before the applicable retroactive date (absent a prior-acts extension) is treated as structurally outside the covered universe, not as a probabilistic coverage question.

Insureds negotiating a new claims-made policy after switching carriers confirm whether prior acts coverage is included and what retroactive date applies, since a gap between the old policy's cancellation and the new policy's retroactive date can leave conduct from that window entirely uninsured.