Casualty Insurance
Commercial general liability
The CGL occurrence form is built on Coverage A (bodily injury and property damage), Coverage B (personal and advertising injury), and Coverage C (medical payments - paid without regard to fault, and excluding the named insured and other insureds). Supplementary payments such as defense costs sit outside the limits. Limits come in layers: each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, damage to premises rented to you (fire legal), and a medical expense limit. Products-completed operations carries its own aggregate, so a products claim does not erode the general aggregate.
Expect exclusions for expected or intended injury, contractual liability (except insured contracts such as leases), liquor liability, workers compensation and employer's liability, autos and mobile equipment, pollution, damage to your product or your work, property in your care, custody, or control, and product recall.
Claims-made versus occurrence
Occurrence policies cover injury that happens during the policy period whenever the claim is later filed. Claims-made policies require the claim to be made during the period, operating with a retroactive date and an optional extended reporting period.
Auto, workers compensation, umbrella
Personal auto: Part A liability, B medical payments or PIP, C uninsured/underinsured motorist, D damage to your auto, E duties after an accident, F general provisions. Know your covered auto, newly acquired autos, and temporary substitute vehicles. Workers compensation is no-fault and the exclusive remedy for employee injury, with Part Two employer's liability for suits outside the system. Umbrellas sit over underlying policies, can drop down for gaps, and often carry a self-insured retention; excess policies generally follow form.
Worked example
Occurrence limit $1M, general aggregate $2M. Two separate $600,000 claims in one policy year are each paid, leaving $800,000 in the aggregate. A third $900,000 award pays only $800,000.
Rule of thumb
Each occurrence is per accident; the aggregate is the annual bucket. If a claim arises from a product after it left your control, look to the products-completed operations aggregate.