CG 00 01: Commercial General Liability Coverage Form (Occurrence)

Legal purpose and coverage scope

Section I of CG 00 01 holds three coverages. Coverage A pays damages because of bodily injury and property damage caused by an occurrence during the policy period. Coverage B covers personal and advertising injury offenses. Coverage C pays medical expenses regardless of fault. Supplementary Payments pay defense costs and related expenses in addition to limits, including, when stated conditions are met, the defense of an indemnitee whose liability the named insured assumed in an insured contract.

Section II, Who Is An Insured, defines who is covered before any endorsement adds anyone. Section III sets the limits: each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury, damage to premises rented and medical expense. Section IV holds the conditions and Section V the definitions. Most compliance work happens in those last two sections.

The claims-made counterpart is CG 00 02. The ACORD 25 shows which one applies with the occurrence or claims-made box, and Pikorua Security confirms it against the forms schedule, because a claims-made CGL changes the completed operations analysis entirely.

The provisions Pikorua Security checks endorsements against

Insured contract. Exclusion b removes liability assumed in a contract, except liability assumed in an insured contract. Paragraph f of the definition covers that part of any other contract or agreement pertaining to the named insured's business under which it assumes the tort liability of another party to pay for bodily injury or property damage to a third person. That paragraph makes a subcontractor's indemnity of the GC insurable. It is the target of CG 21 39 (which deletes it) and CG 24 26 (which ties it to the named insured's fault), and railroad work within 50 feet is carved out of it until CG 24 17 restores it.

Other Insurance. The policy is primary unless it is excess, and it is excess over any other primary insurance available to the named insured for which it has been added as an additional insured. When two primary policies apply, they share by equal shares or by limits. An additional insured's own policy can therefore be asked to contribute, which is why exhibits require CG 20 01 primary and non-contributory wording.

Transfer of Rights of Recovery Against Others to Us. After paying a loss, the insurer takes the insured's recovery rights, and the insured must do nothing after loss to impair them. A pre-loss contractual waiver is generally consistent with that wording, but contracts still require CG 24 04 or blanket waiver wording so the waiver in favor of the scheduled parties is explicit. Nonrenewal notice to the first Named Insured is a separate condition; cancellation lives in IL 00 17.

Products-completed operations hazard and the aggregates. Injury after work is completed or put to its intended use falls within this hazard, which is where ongoing operations additional insured coverage ends and CG 20 37 must pick up. The general aggregate applies per policy unless CG 25 03 (per project) or CG 25 04 (per location) changes it.

Edition history

The 11 85 edition launched the simplified CGL in 1986 and introduced the insured contract definition. The 10 01 edition addressed electronic data, stating it is not tangible property and adding an electronic data exclusion, in the same cycle that introduced CG 20 37. The 12 04 and 12 07 editions followed. The 04 13 edition is the base form behind most policies in force; the construction impact of the 2013 cycle landed in the companion additional insured endorsements and the new CG 20 01 rather than in the base form itself.

ISO has since published a 12 25 edition. Carriers adopt new editions state by state on their own schedules, so forms schedules mixing 04 13 and 12 25 base forms will be common for a while. The edition matters because endorsements are filed to work with a specific base form; an older endorsement attached to a newer base form can leave wording mismatches.

What to require or prohibit in the contract

Require occurrence-form CGL on ISO CG 00 01 or a form at least as broad, with the products-completed operations aggregate maintained for the completed operations period. If a vendor's only option is claims-made, require a retroactive date no later than the start of work and an extended reporting period or continuous coverage through the completed operations period.

• Require: CG 00 01 or equivalent occurrence form, the insured contract definition unmodified, and a per project aggregate by CG 25 03 on construction work.
• Require: CG 20 01 to override the Other Insurance condition in favor of the additional insureds.
• Prohibit: CG 21 39, CG 24 26, CG 21 44 limitations to other premises, and carrier forms that narrow Who Is An Insured or delete Supplementary Payments for indemnitees.

How Pikorua Security verifies the base form

Pikorua Security reads the policy forms schedule when the vendor or broker uploads it, along with the ACORD 25 occurrence or claims-made selection. The validator records the base form number and edition, flags carrier proprietary forms for a wording comparison against CG 00 01, and checks that every endorsement on file is compatible with that base form.

Endorsements that modify the insured contract definition, Who Is An Insured or the Other Insurance condition are scored against the CG 00 01 baseline, so a risk manager sees exactly what changed and which contract paragraph it affects, instead of a generic "policy reviewed" checkmark.