Ask PIA

Lease requires civil assault and battery coverage

One of our clients is leasing a warehouse facility. The terms of the lease have insurance requirements that include “Civil Assault and Battery” coverage. Is this exposure covered under a general liability policy?

Medical payments for day-camp kids

We insure a day camp for children. The insurance company denies that the Medical Payments coverage under the Insurance Services Office Inc. Commercial General Liability Coverage Form applies to injuries to children who may be playing basketball, roller hockey, softball and other sports at the camp. I believe there definitely is coverage. Would you comment?

Coverage territory

I am concerned about the coverage afforded by the commercial general liability policy for foreign liability situations. My insured does business overseas. Could you explain this issue?

Snowplowing—completed operations

We are getting conflicting opinions from various sources regarding coverage under the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form. Specifically, we have a carpentry contractor insured under this form. This contractor is considering plowing snow, both contractually and on the shake of a hand. The question arises whether completed operations coverage would be afforded under the CGL for snowplowing, without endorsing specific coverage to the form.

New locations, operations

Does the ISO Commercial General Liability Policy cover new locations and operations of an insured automatically? Is coverage limited to the classifications shown in the declarations?

Theft from customer

We insure a beauty salon under a commercial general liability policy. One day, robbers walked in and took a $10,000 ring worn by one of the salon’s clients. What will happen if the woman sues the salon for the value of the ring?

Patent infringement claim

Our insured has been charged with patent infringement. Will this be covered under Coverage B of the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form?

Personal and advertising injury liability—wrongful eviction

We’d like an interpretation of Coverage B—Personal and Advertising Injury Liability of the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form. We had a situation where a woman was told to leave the grounds of a public town green. We want to know if our client’s policy should respond to her claim of wrongful eviction. Our client was sponsoring an event on the green and asked security to remove the woman because of her disruptive behavior. The carrier is balking because it was a public space.

Hold-harmless agreements—injury to employees

We have an insured who signed a contract to defend, hold harmless and indemnify a client for any liability actions, including actions brought by our insured’s employees. However, the insured did not notify the insurance company or our agency prior to signing the contract.

One of our insured’s employees got hurt and collected workers’ compensation. In addition, the employee sued the client with whom our insured has the contractual hold-harmless agreement. We need to know if our insured’s policy is going to respond or not.

Pollution exclusion—welding

We have an insured with an ISO Commercial General Liability occurrence policy. The insured is a steel fabricator and erector who does some welding at job sites, producing smoke. Is smoke from welding rods considered a pollutant? Will there be coverage under the policy if someone becomes ill from the smoke?

Waiver of subrogation

Can a commercial general liability policy insured waive subrogation in a separate contract without impacting coverage under the policy?

Business records subject to audit

What can and can’t a company require by way of business records in connection with a premium audit? Our company wants to see copies of contracts with service companies entered into by our client who owns apartment buildings. We write the commercial general liability policy on these buildings. Is the company within its rights?

Trigger for personal and advertising injury

I’m confused by the various triggers for coverage used on an Insurance Services Office Inc. Claims-Made Commercial General Liability form. Is Coverage B—Personal and Advertising Injury Liability subject to an occurrence or a claims-made trigger?

‘Damage to property’ exclusion

Our insured was installing a sign for a business when the sign slipped. The sign scraped a wall going down, causing $12,000 worth of damage. How would the property damage exclusion j.(5) apply to the insured’s commercial general liability policy in this situation?

Separation of insureds/duty to cooperate

Our insured is involved in a third-party claim situation under a commercial general liability policy. The claim is based on the actions of a former employee. The adjuster can’t get in touch with this individual, who has made it clear that he will not cooperate. Does this lack of cooperation jeopardize our client’s coverage?

Fire legal liability coverage

Could you provide a definition of “fire legal liability” with respect to a commercial general liability policy? Our insureds are asking what it means.

Audit premium for ‘inadequate’ subcontractor limits

We wrote a commercial general liability policy for a contractor with a $500,000 liability limit. He engaged a subcontractor with only $300,000 in liability coverage.

Our company is saying that the subcontractor’s limits must match our CGL limits or, upon audit, they will charge for the subcontractor as if he had no insurance of his own. Is this right?

Third-party-over actions

How does the subcontractor’s Commercial General Liability Policy respond to third-party-over actions when that policy is endorsed to waive subrogation? How is this impacted by hold-harmless agreements with the general contractor?

Controlling Interest endorsement

What is the proper use of the Additional Insured—Controlling Interest (CG 20 05) endorsement?

CGL blanket additional insured endorsement

Do the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form (CG 00 01) and a proprietary blanket additional insured endorsement satisfy the following statement that a landlord is requiring on the certificate?

XXXX, LLC and all direct and indirect subsidiaries or owners of these companies, their respective officers, directors, agents and employees are named as additional insureds on my client’s general liability policy. The inclusion therein of any person or entity as an additional insured shall not affect any right such person or entity would have as a claimant thereunder if not so included.

Amendment of insured contract

Could you explain the changes in the Amendment of Insured Contract Definition (CG 24 26) endorsement?

Additional insured—sole negligence

In view of the fact that ISO’s revised additional insured endorsements exclude the sole negligence of the additional insured, is it correct to say that insurance companies will now be looking at whether the named insured was actually negligent before offering to defend the additional insured?

Damage by an additional insured

Does adding someone as an additional insured automatically preclude coverage for the additional insured when the named insured’s personal property is damaged by the additional insured?

Carpet damage

My client is a carpet cleaner, who goes to locations to clean carpets. We have submitted a claim for a carpet which was damaged by his cleaning. The carrier denied the claim citing the exclusion for damage to “your work.” Is this proper?

Health club professional liability

From a coverage standpoint is it better to rely on the silence of a commercial general liability policy for professional coverage if it is not excluded? The exposure is a health/athletic club. No exclusions apply. Or is it better to purchase a miscellaneous professional liability policy?

Additional insureds

I have a general liability policy that the date of inception was November 2003. At that time we supplied the insurance carrier with all named insureds and operations for our client. When the audit was completed, it was noted on the audit worksheet that there were several named insureds not contemplated in the 2003 general liability policy. The insurance carrier is now asking the insured to sign an endorsement specifying coverage does not apply to various named insureds. If the insured does not sign the form, the carrier is stating they will charge for the additional exposures. Can an insurance carrier legally ask for an insured to sign an exclusion after the policy is in effect? How can you charge for something that was provided in the initial submission and was the carrier's error for not picking up the exposure in the first place? I certainly do not want to go back to the client now and ask them to sign an exclusion in the policy.

Discontinued operations—gone out of business

When contractors go out of business, we always recommend they buy “discontinued operations liability coverage,” i.e., for products completed operations exposures going forward. My question is, if a contractor is incorporated and dissolves the corporation, how free from liability are they? Can't they still be sued say a deck they built collapses and hurts someone? If the corporation is dissolved, can't the individual officers of the old corporation still be sued? Should we still quote coverage for this potential liability?

Supplementary payments—attorney fees

I was doing a little research and I see that the 2007 edition of the ISO Commercial General Liability Coverage Form (CG 00 01) will not pay for attorney fees taxed against an insured. Supplementary Payments, item 1.e., has a limitation in the 2007 edition not found in the 2004 edition. In both editions, the insurance company pays all court costs taxed against the insured in the suit. However, the 2007 edition states that “these payments do not include attorneys’ fees or attorneys’ expenses taxed against the insured.” Is there an endorsement that would cover this exposure?

Blanket additional insured

We were recently informed that the blanket ISO endorsement CG 20 33 is not really a blanket additional insured endorsement at all and that it only covers those engaged in a contract with the insured. Is this correct?

Discontinued operations—gone out of business

When contractors go out of business, we always recommend they buy “discontinued operations liability coverage” for products and completed operations exposures going forward. If incorporated contractors dissolve their corporations, are they free from liability? If a deck they built collapses and hurts someone, can they be sued? If the corporation is dissolved, can the individual officers of the old corporation still be sued? Should we still quote coverage for this potential liability?

Partners and DBAs

When insuring a partnership entity for commercial general liability insurance, should the registered DBA (“doing business as”) and the partners be listed as named insureds?

Additional insureds and downstream contractors

A general contractor is named as an additional insured on a subcontractor’s policy. The downstream (sub-sub) contractor has a cross-liability exclusion on his policy. If an employee of the downstream contractor gets injured and sues the general contractor, will the subcontractor’s policy respond in lieu of the downstream contractor’s policy? Does it matter whether the subcontractor also has a cross-liability exclusion on his policy?

Discontinued operations—gone out of business

When contractors go out of business, we always recommend they buy “discontinued operations liability coverage,” i.e., for products completed operations exposures going forward. My question is: if a contractor is incorporated and dissolves the corporation, how free from liability are they? Can't they still be sued say a deck they built collapses and hurts someone? If the corporation is dissolved, can't the individual officers of the old corporation still be sued? Should we still quote coverage for this potential liability?

Mobile equipment dilemma

Is a garbage truck or a catering truck covered under the ISO general liability coverage form as mobile equipment?

Bring-your-own liquor

I insure a small restaurant that permits customers to bring their own wine for consumption on the premises. Can this be covered without a liquor liability policy?