Additional Insured
Definition
Additional Insured — a person or organization not automatically included as an insured under an
insurance policy who is included or added as an insured under the policy at the
request of the named insured. A named insured's impetus for providing
additional insured status to others may be a desire to protect the other party
because of a close relationship with that party (e.g., wanting to protect
church members performing services for the insured church) or to comply with a
contractual agreement requiring the named insured to do so (e.g., project
owners, customers, or owners of property leased by the named insured). In
liability insurance, additional insured status is commonly used in conjunction
with an indemnity agreement between the named insured (the indemnitor) and the
party requesting additional insured status (the indemnitee). Having the rights
of an insured under its indemnitor's commercial general liability (CGL)
policy is viewed by most indemnitees as a way of backing up the promise of
indemnification. If the indemnity agreement proves unenforceable for some
reason, the indemnitee may still be able to obtain coverage for its liability
by making a claim directly as an additional insured under the indemnitor's
CGL policy. In property insurance, additional insured status is most often used
in conjunction with a premises lease agreement between the named insured as the
lessee and the owner of the leased building, in which the insured tenant is
required to purchase insurance on the leased building and name the building
owner as an additional insured on the insurance policy with respect to the
leased building.