CIC Commercial Casualty key terms

An accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions, that causes bodily injury or property damage during the policy period. Intentional acts are generally excluded unless the resulting harm was unexpected from the insured's standpoint.

Physical injury, sickness, or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these at any time. Mental anguish and emotional distress are covered only when arising from a covered physical injury under the standard ISO wording.

Physical injury to tangible property, including resulting loss of use, or loss of use of tangible property that has not been physically injured. Electronic data is not tangible property under the standard commercial general liability form.

A separate coverage offense list including false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement in an advertisement, and misappropriation of advertising ideas. It is not triggered by an accident and carries its own exclusions.

The liability risk arising from the insured's ownership or occupancy of premises and from ongoing business activities conducted there or elsewhere. It is the core exposure covered by Coverage A before products-completed operations and other specific hazards are considered.

Bodily injury or property damage occurring away from premises the insured owns or rents and arising from a product or completed work. It includes the insured's product still in the physical possession of others and work already completed or abandoned.

Any goods or products, other than real property, manufactured, sold, handled, distributed, or disposed of by the named insured or by others trading under its name. It includes containers, materials, parts, and equipment furnished in connection with the product.

Work or operations performed by the insured or on its behalf, plus materials, parts, and equipment furnished in connection with that work. It includes warranties and representations about the work's fitness, quality, durability, or performance.

A policy condition barring coverage for injury or damage that the insured knew about before the policy period began. It prevents an insured from buying coverage after discovering a loss and is a common source of late-notice disputes.

The rule determining which policy periods respond to a loss. Bodily injury and property damage generally follow an injury-in-fact or continuous trigger, while personal and advertising injury is triggered by the offense, which shapes how multiple policy years share a loss.

The amounts an insurer will pay under a coverage part, expressed as a general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury limit, each occurrence limit, and damage to premises rented to you limit. The most the insurer pays for one occurrence is the each occurrence limit.

The total amount payable under Coverage A during a policy period for all losses other than those subject to the products-completed operations aggregate. Payments for damages reduce the aggregate, but the aggregate is not reduced by payments for injury covered under Coverage C.

The maximum amount an insurer pays for all damages because of any one occurrence or offense, regardless of the number of claimants, claims, or insureds involved. Defense costs are paid in addition to the limit unless an endorsement states otherwise.

Amounts the insurer pays beyond the limits, such as defense costs, bail bond premiums up to the stated amount, and expenses incurred at the insurer's request. These payments do not reduce the limits of insurance, which makes the duty to defend especially valuable.

The insurer's obligation to defend the insured against suits seeking damages covered by the policy, even if the allegations are groundless, false, or fraudulent. The duty ends when the applicable limit is exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.

A person or organization added to a liability policy by endorsement and granted coverage for its liability arising out of the named insured's operations, premises, or work. The scope of that protection depends entirely on the wording of the endorsement used.

The policy form that extends insured status to another party and defines exactly which losses are covered. Forms vary widely, from broad coverage for liability arising out of operations to narrow coverage limited to vicarious liability or completed operations only.

A broad causal phrase interpreted to mean originating from, growing out of, or having a connection with. It does not require proximate cause, so the named insured's operations need only be part of the causal chain for an additional insured claim to fall within the grant.

A one-page document evidencing that insurance exists on the date issued. It is not a contract, does not amend or extend coverage, and does not create rights for the holder, though it is routinely requested and relied on in construction contracts.

An endorsement provision making the additional insured's own policy excess and the named insured's policy primary for a covered loss. It matters most when both parties carry liability insurance for the same occurrence and dispute which policy pays first.

The policy condition that determines how a policy shares a loss with other valid and collectible insurance. Standard forms use a combination of pro rata, excess, and escape clauses, and endorsements can change those relationships for additional insureds.

A provision in which the insurer gives up its right to recover from another party after paying a loss. Insureds often must obtain this endorsement by written contract, and it must be on the policy itself rather than merely noted on a certificate.

The insurer's right to step into the insured's shoes and pursue recovery from a third party that caused a covered loss. Contractual waivers and anti-indemnity statutes can limit this right, which is why insurers price and endorse it carefully.

An endorsement extending additional insured status to liability arising from the named insured's completed work, not just ongoing operations. It is critical for owners and general contractors facing construction defect claims years after a project ends.

Coverage for liability the insured assumes in a written or oral contract, most often an indemnity or hold harmless agreement. The standard form covers only liability that would exist even without the contract or that falls within an exception to the exclusion.

A defined term covering certain leases, sidetrack agreements, easement agreements, and business contracts where the insured assumes tort liability of another party. The definition determines which contractual indemnity obligations the policy actually insures.

The limitation in an additional insured endorsement tying coverage to the named insured's ongoing operations or work at a specific project. Endorsements that add a project or location restriction narrow the grant and can leave the additional insured uninsured for later claims.

The standard policy insuring liability for owned, hired, and non-owned autos the insured designates with covered auto symbols. It also offers physical damage, medical payments, and uninsured motorist coverages for the same vehicles.

Numbered designations on the business auto declarations that determine which autos are covered. Symbol 1 covers any auto, symbol 7 covers specifically described autos, 8 covers hired autos, and 9 covers non-owned autos, among others.

Coverage for sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage caused by an accident involving a covered auto. Defense costs are supplementary payments paid in addition to the liability limit.

A vehicle the insured leases, hires, rents, or borrows for business purposes, other than one hired from an employee or leased with a driver. It is covered when the policy includes the hired auto symbol or the appropriate endorsement.

An auto the insured does not own, lease, hire, rent, or borrow, but that is used in its business, including autos owned by employees. Coverage depends on the non-owned symbol and is excess over the driver's personal auto policy.

Coverage for direct and accidental loss to a covered auto, written as comprehensive, specified causes of loss, or collision. Deductibles, valuation methods, and exclusions for wear and tear or diminution of value shape what is actually paid.

The value used to settle many physical damage claims, generally replacement cost minus depreciation. Policies may instead use stated amount, agreed value, or replacement cost, and the valuation clause determines how a total loss is paid.

An endorsement extending liability and often physical damage coverage to the named insured and family members while driving autos they do not own. It is common for executives whose employer provides a company car and who carry no personal auto policy.

An alternative to the business auto form for trucking and hauling operations, using its own covered auto designations and rating. It is often paired with cargo and trailer interchange coverage and with filings required by regulators.

Statutory benefits paid to employees for work-related injury or disease, regardless of fault, under a state's workers compensation law. Part One of the policy pays those benefits and is the only part that cannot be written with a deductible.

Part Two of the workers compensation policy, covering suits by employees for work-related injury that fall outside the exclusive remedy of workers compensation. It responds to allegations such as third-party over actions and dual-capacity claims, with limits stated per accident, disease policy limit, and each employee.

The legal principle that workers compensation benefits are the employee's sole recovery against the employer for a work-related injury. It is why employers liability coverage exists, since suits outside the system still occur through exceptions and third-party claims.

A rating factor comparing an employer's past loss experience with the average for its classification, applied to manual premium. A factor above 1.00 means worse-than-average losses and increases premium; below 1.00 reduces it.

The payroll-based category assigned to an employer's operations that sets the manual rate for workers compensation premium. Misclassification, such as reporting clerical employees under a construction class, is a common audit and premium dispute.

The post-term review of payroll and job duties used to calculate final workers compensation premium. Because premium is deposit-based, audits can produce additional premium if payroll grew or employees were assigned to a higher-rated class.

The rule that a sole proprietor, partners, and certain corporate officers are not automatically employees under a workers compensation policy. They must be included by endorsement, and their payroll then enters the premium calculation.

An endorsement naming another entity, such as a client or staffing firm, as an alternate employer so that its employees receive workers compensation and employers liability protection under the policy. It is often required in staffing and construction contracts.

The insured's duty to report an occurrence, claim, or suit promptly to the insurer. Late notice can prejudice coverage, and the notice provision interacts with the known injury or damage condition and with claims-made versus occurrence triggers.