Commercial general liability insurance

Last updated

Commercial general liability insurance is a broad type of insurance policy which provides liability insurance for general business risks. In the United States insurance market this is known as Commercial General Liability (CGL).

It is the "first line" of coverage that a business typically purchases, [1] and covers many of the common risks that can happen to any type of business, such as bodily injury or property damage on the business premises or due to the business operations, personal and advertising injury, and medical payments. [2] As with other types of liability insurance, CGL insurance normally imposes on issuing insurers duties both to defend and to indemnify insureds with respect to covered claims.

CGL insurance is generally categorized as an "all-risks" type of insurance, under which it provides coverage for risks unless specifically excluded. Specific risks that are normally excluded from CGL coverage include professional services, pollution, liquor, automobile liability, and directors and officers liability, [2] with separate insurance policies being available to cover these situations. A wide variety of other coverage exclusions, extensions, limitations, and other policy terms and conditions may be included by endorsements to a CGL policy. A CGL insurance includes both public liability and product liability insurance.

Construction defects coverage

Whether or not general liability insurance covers construction defects or "faulty workmanship" is a matter of some debate, as some insurers have viewed poor workmanship as a risk that is covered by a surety bond rather than an insurance policy given that a construction professional may have some influence (through attention to detail, skill, and effort) over whether such a defect occurs. [3] [4] Though in certain jurisdictions manufacturers of component parts continue to have coverage under a Commercial General Liability policy if their component part harms a finished product, in this case homeowners pursuing damages to a home caused by defective windows. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurance</span> Equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another in exchange for payment

Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.

Title insurance is a form of indemnity insurance predominantly found in the United States and Canada which insures against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage loans. Unlike some land registration systems in countries outside the United States, US states' recorders of deeds generally do not guarantee indefeasible title to those recorded titles. Title insurance will defend against a lawsuit attacking the title or reimburse the insured for the actual monetary loss incurred up to the dollar amount of insurance provided by the policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vehicle insurance</span> Insurance for road vehicles

Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise from incidents in a vehicle. Vehicle insurance may additionally offer financial protection against theft of the vehicle, and against damage to the vehicle sustained from events other than traffic collisions, such as keying, weather or natural disasters, and damage sustained by colliding with stationary objects. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.

In an insurance policy, the deductible is the amount paid out of pocket by the policy holder before an insurance provider will pay any expenses. In general usage, the term deductible may be used to describe one of several types of clauses that are used by insurance companies as a threshold for policy payments.

Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use, or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.

In insurance, the insurance policy is a contract between the insurer and the policyholder, which determines the claims which the insurer is legally required to pay. In exchange for an initial payment, known as the premium, the insurer promises to pay for loss caused by perils covered under the policy language.

In law, a warranty is an expressed or implied promise or assurance of some kind. The term's meaning varies across legal subjects. In property law, it refers to a covenant by the grantor of a deed. In insurance law, it refers to a promise by the purchaser of an insurance about the thing or person to be insured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General insurance</span> Non-life insurance policies

General insurance or non-life insurance policy, including automobile and homeowners policies, provide payments depending on the loss from a particular financial event. General insurance is typically defined as any insurance that is not determined to be life insurance. It is called property and casualty insurance in the United States and Canada and non-life insurance in Continental Europe.

Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.

An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negotiating with multiple insurers, while an agent represents one or more specific insurers under a contract.

In the United States, a third-party administrator (TPA) is an organization that processes insurance claims or certain aspects of employee benefit plans for a separate entity. It is also a term used to define organizations within the insurance industry which administer other services such as underwriting and customer service. This can be viewed as outsourcing the administration of the claims processing, since the TPA is performing a task traditionally handled by the company providing the insurance or the company itself. Often, in the case of insurance claims, a TPA handles the claims processing for an employer that self-insures its employees. Thus, the employer is acting as an insurance company and underwrites the risk. The risk of loss remains with the employer, and not with the TPA. An insurance company may also use a TPA to manage its claims processing, provider networks, utilization review, or membership functions. While some third-party administrators may operate as units of insurance companies, they are often independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation insurance</span> Liability and equipment coverage for aircraft

Aviation insurance is insurance coverage geared specifically to the operation of aircraft and the risks involved in aviation. Aviation insurance policies are distinctly different from those for other areas of transportation and tend to incorporate aviation terminology, as well as terminology, limits and clauses specific to aviation insurance.

Umbrella insurance is a kind of liability insurance. It typically applies when liability exceeds the limits of other policies, although it may also serve as primary insurance for losses not covered by other policies.

Expatriate insurance policies are designed to cover financial and other losses incurred by expatriates while living and working in a country other than one's own.

An owner controlled insurance program (OCIP) is an insurance policy held by a property owner during the construction or renovation of a property, which is typically designed to cover virtually all liability and loss arising from the construction project.

Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advising, consulting, and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client in a civil lawsuit. The coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder. These are causes for legal action that would not be covered by a more general liability insurance policy which addresses more direct forms of harm. Professional liability insurance may take on different forms and names depending on the profession, especially medical and legal, and is sometimes required under contract by other businesses that are the beneficiaries of the advice or service.

Pollution insurance is a type of insurance that covers costs related to pollution. This can include the costs of brownfield restoration and cleanup, liability for injuries and deaths caused by pollution. Most businesses will purchase broad commercial general insurance or property insurance policies but these usually contain an "absolute pollution exclusion" and thus rarely cover pollution, although there may be limited pollution coverage.

In insurance policies, an additional insured is a person or organization who enjoys the benefits of being insured under an insurance policy, in addition to whoever originally purchased the insurance policy. The term generally applies within liability insurance and property insurance, but is an element of other policies as well. Most often it applies where the original named insured needs to provide insurance coverage to additional parties so that they enjoy protection from a new risk that arises out of the original named insured's conduct or operations. An additional insured often gains this status by means of an endorsement added to the policy which either identifies the additional party by name or by a general description contained in a "blanket additional insured endorsement".

Vehicle insurance in the United States is designed to cover the risk of financial liability or the loss of a motor vehicle that the owner may face if their vehicle is involved in a collision that results in property or physical damage. Most states require a motor vehicle owner to carry some minimum level of liability insurance. States that do not require the vehicle owner to carry car insurance include Virginia, where an uninsured motor vehicle fee may be paid to the state, New Hampshire, and Mississippi, which offers vehicle owners the option to post cash bonds. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of citizens in each respective state when traveling to another. A motor vehicle owner typically pays insurers a monthly or yearly fee, often called an insurance premium. The insurance premium a motor vehicle owner pays is usually determined by a variety of factors including the type of covered vehicle, marital status, credit score, whether the driver rents or owns a home, the age and gender of any covered drivers, their driving history, and the location where the vehicle is primarily driven and stored. Most insurance companies will increase insurance premium rates based on these factors, and less frequently, offer discounts.

Increases in the use of autonomous car technologies are causing incremental shifts in the responsibility of driving, with the primary motivation of reducing the frequency of traffic collisions. Liability for incidents involving self-driving cars is a developing area of law and policy that will determine who is liable when a car causes physical damage to persons or property. As autonomous cars shift the responsibility of driving from humans to autonomous car technology, there is a need for existing liability laws to evolve to reasonably identify the appropriate remedies for damage and injury. As higher levels of autonomy are commercially introduced, the insurance industry stands to see higher proportions of commercial and product liability lines of business, while the personal automobile insurance line of business shrinks.

References

  1. Abraham, Kenneth S. (2001-01-01). "The Rise and Fall of Commercial Liability Insurance". Virginia Law Review. 87 (1): 85–109. doi:10.2307/1073895. JSTOR   1073895.
  2. 1 2 "Commercial General Liability Insurance". III. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  3. "Construction Defect Insurance Coverage Remains Difficult To Predict | IRMI.com". www.irmi.com. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  4. "Construction Defect and Occurrence: Still Crazy after All These Years | IRMI.com". www.irmi.com. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  5. Schellinger, Susan G. (30 September 2017). "Recent Federal Appeals Court Decision on Insurance Coverage Impacts Manufacturers". The National Law Review . Davis Kuelthau. Retrieved 7 October 2017.