Casualty Insurance Basics and Coverages
Commercial general liability
The CGL is built on Coverage A (bodily injury and property damage), Coverage B (personal and advertising injury), and Coverage C (medical payments), with supplementary payments outside the limits. An occurrence form responds to injury or damage during the policy period; a claims-made form responds to claims first made during the period, subject to the retroactive date and any extended reporting period. Learn the limits: each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, damage to premises rented to you, and the fire legal limit.
Auto and workers compensation
The personal auto policy has Part A liability, Part B medical payments or PIP, Part C uninsured/underinsured motorists, and Part D damage to your auto (collision and other than collision). Split limits read per person/per accident/property damage; a combined single limit is one pot. Know what counts as a covered auto, newly acquired autos, and temporary substitutes. Workers compensation pays medical, disability, death, and rehabilitation benefits regardless of fault, and the exclusive remedy rule bars most employee suits against the employer; Part One is statutory, Part Two is employers liability.
Traps
- Exceeding the per-person limit even when the per-accident limit is larger.
- Confusing claims-made retroactive dates with occurrence triggers.
- Forgetting that umbrellas drop down over gaps and carry a self-insured retention, not a deductible.
Worked example
A policy has 100/300/50 limits. One claimant has $150,000 in injuries and receives $100,000. If two claimants each have $75,000, each is paid in full because the total of $150,000 is under the $300,000 per-accident cap. Property damage pays up to $50,000 per accident no matter how many vehicles are damaged.