General Liability

COVERAGE A

• The basic general liability insurance policy covers bodily injury and property damage to third parties for which the insured is found to be legally liable as stated in the policy’s insuring agreement. In addition to these sums for bodily injury and property damage, the general liability policy will pay for a legal defense on behalf of the insured when covered claims are presented. The CGL policy coverage is broad in that it states it will cover the insured for all bodily injury and property damage except for those specifically excluded. Common exclusions are those for claims where the insured intended to cause injury or damage or those covered in other policies, such as workers’ compensation, automobile liability and professional liability.

COVERAGE B

• In addition to bodily injury and property damage, the general liability policy covers personal and advertising injury. Personal and advertising injury can be best described as those offenses that cause neither physical injury to persons nor damage to property but are still covered third-party liability claims. Common examples of items covered by Coverage B are libel, slander and false imprisonment. Exclusions in Coverage B are similar in nature to those in Coverage A, such as injury intentionally caused by the insured or activity engaged in knowing the outcome would be injury. Criminal acts are also excluded from coverage.

COVERAGE C

• The general liability policy will also provide for medical payments coverage to third-parties injured on the insured’s premises. These payments do not require the third party to establish liability on the part of the insured. Instead, the coverage is intended as a gesture of goodwill in an attempt to prevent a more serious bodily injury claim from being filed against the insured.