Commercial General Liability

Commercial general liability (CGL) is a type of insurance policy that provides coverage to a business for bodily injury, personal injury and property damage caused by the business’ operations, products, or injury that occurs on the business’ premises.

Commercial general liability policies have different levels of coverage. A policy may include premises coverage, which protects the business from claims that occur at the business’ physical location during regular business operations. It may also include coverage for bodily injury and property damage that is the result of finished products. Some commercial general liability policies may have exclusions to what actions are covered. For example, a policy may not cover the costs associated with a product recall which is a separate insurance product.

When purchasing commercial general liability insurance, it is important for the business to differentiate between a claims-made policy and an occurrence policy. A claims-made policy provides coverage over a specific time period and covers claims made during that time period, even if the claim event occurred at a different time. An occurrence policy is different in that it covers claims provided that the claim event occurred during a specified time period and does not cover claims stemming from claim events that occurred before the policy came into effect. An “Occurrence Policy” is the most recommended type policy to have.

Key Endorsements:

Depending on its business needs, a company may need to name other companies or persons as “additional insured” under their commercial liability insurance policy. This is common when businesses enter into a contract with another entity that requires the insuring business to name the additional entity as “additional insured” on the policy. For example, a general contractor hires a subcontracting firm to perform a task on a project. They would benefit by being named additionally insured to lessen the exposure on their own GL coverage.

Waiver of subrogation is another common and popular endorsement which simply would eliminate exposure to a thirty party for any liability regardless of who caused or contributed to the incident. It’s what we refer to as “The buck stops here” and no one other than the insurer and the primary insured will be involved in a claim.