Glossary

The commercial general liability (CGL) policy is a standard insurance policy issued to business organizations to protect them against liability claims for bodily injury (BI) and property damage (PD) arising out of premises, operations, products, and completed operations; and advertising and personal injury (PI) liability. The CGL policy was introduced by Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO), in 1986 and replaced the "comprehensive" general liability policy.

Cross-liability coverage is coverage in connection with a suit brought against an insured by another party that has insured status under the same policy. Cross-liability coverage is provided as an intrinsic feature of the standard commercial general liability (CGL) policy by means of the "separation of insureds" condition. Some umbrella and professional liability policies contain insured-versus-insured exclusions that eliminate cross-liability coverage.

A contractors limitation endorsement is virtually always attached to umbrella policies issued to contractors and construction-related entities imposing limits or exclusions on the umbrella's coverage with respect to certain exposures arising out of the construction operations. Some endorsements operate to make the umbrella coverage following form over the coverage provided for these exposures in the underlying policy. Other versions of the endorsement impose more restrictive conditions or even absolute exclusions. It is desirable to confirm that following form coverage is provided over explosion, collapse, underground property damage, damage to the work, and contractual liability coverage, as provided within the primary layer.

Coordination of coverage is the process of reviewing and possibly modifying the scope or nature of coverage provided by an insured's various liability policies to eliminate gaps or overlaps. For example, if an insured has an occurrence-based commercial general liability (CGL) policy and an umbrella policy written with a claims-made trigger, coverage gaps could result. Coordinating coverage in this instance might involve replacing the umbrella policy with an occurrence form.

Computer software design errors and omissions policies provide professional liability coverage for computer software designers, analysts, and consultants to cover errors in programs or in systems design. This coverage is often written as part of a package policy arranged for computer firms. The policies, which are provided on a claims-made basis, cover financial losses that result from an insured's negligence. For example, coverage would apply if a software designer's e-commerce program contained a security glitch that allowed hackers to purchase goods with expired credit cards.