Casualty Insurance Basics and Liability Concepts
Negligence
The elements are a legal duty, breach of that duty, proximate cause, and actual damages. Defenses include contributory negligence, comparative negligence (Oklahoma uses a modified comparative rule that reduces recovery by the plaintiff's percentage of fault and bars recovery when the plaintiff's fault exceeds the defendant's), assumption of risk, and intervening cause. Strict liability applies to abnormally dangerous activities and defective products; vicarious liability holds an employer responsible for employees acting within the scope of employment.
Damages and coverage
Compensatory damages are special (medical, lost wages) or general (pain and suffering); punitive damages punish. Occurrence forms cover accidents that happen during the policy period; claims-made forms cover claims reported during the period and use a retroactive date. General liability has Coverage A (bodily injury and property damage), B (personal and advertising injury), and C (medical payments), with per-occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations, and per-person limits.
Traps
The CGL does not cover employee injuries (workers' compensation), damage to the insured's own product or work, or contractual liability unless assumed in an insured contract. Supplementary payments such as defense costs are paid in addition to limits.
Worked example: A customer slips on the store's icy sidewalk - the store's general liability responds. If the injured person were an employee, workers' compensation would respond instead.