Commercial General Liability
The trigger: occurrence
The standard CGL is an occurrence policy: it covers injury or damage that takes place during the policy period, even if the claim is reported years later. An occurrence is an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions. Intentional acts and expected or intended injury are excluded.
Three insuring agreements
Coverage A - bodily injury and property damage. Coverage B - personal and advertising injury (libel, slander, false arrest, wrongful eviction, invasion of privacy, infringement of copyright in an advertisement). Coverage C - medical payments, a no-fault benefit for minor injuries on the premises or arising out of operations, paid without a liability determination.
Limits and defense
Know the architecture: each occurrence limit, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury limit, and damage-to-premises-rented limit. Under the standard form, defense costs are paid in addition to limits, and the duty to defend ends only when limits are exhausted by payment of judgments or settlements.
Exclusions to memorize
Expected or intended injury; contractual liability (with the insured-contract exception); liquor liability; workers compensation and employer's liability; pollution; auto, aircraft, watercraft; damage to property in the insured's care, custody, or control; the "your work," "your product," and "impaired property" exclusions (with the subcontractor exception to "your work"); recall; professional services; employment-related practices; fungi or bacteria.
Rule of thumb. Match the injury to a coverage part, then check exclusions that use the same words. Worked example. A visitor trips on a torn carpet. Coverage C pays the medical bill up to its sublimit regardless of fault; Coverage A pays only if the insured was negligent.