Casualty Insurance Basics and Policy Provisions
Casualty insurance basics covers liability coverage: the insured's legal obligation to pay damages because of bodily injury or property damage. The exam tests negligence, occurrence versus claims-made triggers, CGL coverage parts, limits, additional insureds, and the duties that condition coverage.
CGL structure
Coverage A pays sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage caused by an occurrence. Coverage B covers personal and advertising injury offenses such as libel, slander, and wrongful eviction. Coverage C pays medical expenses without a liability finding. Limits include each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, and personal and advertising injury aggregate.
Triggers and conditions
An occurrence policy responds when injury or damage happens during the policy period, even if the claim is later. A claims-made policy responds when the claim is made, subject to retroactive date and extended reporting periods. The insured must notify, cooperate, and tender the claim; the insurer has the duty to defend, which is broader than the duty to indemnify.
Worked example
A contractor completes a building in 2022. In 2024 a wall collapses because of faulty workmanship, injuring a visitor. The CGL occurrence policy in force in 2024 may respond to the bodily injury, but the your work exclusion may bar damage to the contractor's own work. The adjuster must separate damage to the insured's work from resulting damage to other property.
Traps
Do not treat a certificate of insurance as an additional-insured endorsement; do not confuse the claims-made reporting requirement with the occurrence trigger; and do not assume Coverage B responds to bodily injury.