Commercial General Liability and Related Coverages
Structure
The ISO commercial general liability form contains three coverages. Coverage A covers bodily injury and property injury for which the insured is legally obligated to pay damages because of an occurrence, plus the right and duty to defend. Coverage B covers personal and advertising injury offenses such as libel, slander, invasion of privacy, and infringement of copyright or trade dress in an advertisement. Coverage C provides medical payments on a no-fault basis for injuries on the premises.
Limits
Limits include each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury limit, and damage to premises rented to you. The general aggregate covers all losses except products-completed operations, which has its own aggregate.
Key exclusions
Expected or intended injury; contractual liability (except insured contracts); liquor liability; workers' compensation and employer's liability; your product and your work; damage to property in your care, custody, or control; recall; professional liability; pollution with narrow exceptions; and auto, aircraft, and watercraft.
Traps
- "Your work" excludes the cost of repairing the faulty work itself, not resulting damage to other property.
- Additional insured status granted by endorsement is usually narrower than blanket wording suggests and may apply only to ongoing operations.
- The CGL is occurrence-based; a related claims-made form requires attention to the retroactive date.
Rule of thumb
When a loss falls outside the CGL, ask what dedicated coverage fills it - umbrella or excess, pollution, professional, or employment practices liability - rather than assuming the CGL responds.