Occurrence = when the injury happened; claims-made = when the claim is first made.

An occurrence policy answers claims made years later.

Claims-made is used for long-tail exposures that are hard to price.

Injury before the retroactive date = no coverage, even on a timely claim.

ISO CGL retro date tests the injury date; many professional forms test the act date.

No retroactive date = prior acts coverage.

A tail extends the time to make claims, not the policy period.

BERP: automatic, free; mini-tail 60 days, midi-tail 5 years.

SERP: ask in writing within 60 days, up to 200% premium, unlimited, fresh aggregate.

General liability = liability to others from premises, operations, products, completed work.

Owned autos → commercial auto; own employees → workers' comp.

Own property is first-party, never CGL.

Products-completed operations has its own aggregate, outside the General Aggregate.

Each Occurrence caps A + C for one occurrence.

Defense is outside the limits in a CGL.

A = BI/PD from an occurrence; trigger is injury during the policy period.

B = listed offenses; trigger is the date of the offense.

C = medical bills, no fault, incurred and reported within 1 year.

Occurrence includes repeated exposure; it need not be sudden.

Property damage includes loss of use of property not physically injured.

P&AI = 7 listed offenses; patent infringement is not one.

Products-completed ops = away from your premises; not goods you still hold or unfinished work.

Insured contract = assumed tort liability; the contractual exclusion does not apply.

Forklift off the road = mobile equipment (CGL); cherry picker truck = auto.

Employee includes leased workers but not temporary workers.

Temporary = fills in for leave or seasonal/short-term workload.

CA ABC test (Lab. Code §2775): presumed employee unless all three conditions are proven.

Intended injury excluded, except reasonable force to protect people or property.

Liquor exclusion hits only insureds in the alcohol business.

Employee injuries → workers' comp; employment practices → EPLI.

Pollution exclusion exception: smoke or heat from a hostile fire.

MacKinnon (CA): exclusion does not plainly bar ordinary negligence with chemicals like pesticides.

Non-owned watercraft under 26 feet, not for hire, stays covered.

Customer goods in your care, custody or control → bailee or inland marine, not CGL.

Recall costs are excluded no matter who orders the recall.

Product recall coverage is sold separately.

TRIA certified act: Treasury Secretary certifies; losses must exceed $5,000,000.

Coverage must be offered; after rejection an exclusion may be used if state law allows.

Fungi/bacteria exclusion: buildings yes, food and drink no.

Pure financial loss is not BI, PD or P&AI, so the CGL never responds.

Professional services exclusions remove even BI/PD from a design error.

Malpractice for medical professionals; E&O for other advisers.

Professional liability: claims-made is the norm; occurrence is exceedingly rare.

Claims-made and reported: claim made AND reported within the period or window.

CA §11580.01: claims-made notice at the application heading and on the policy face page.

CGL: defense outside the limit. Professional: defense commonly erodes the limit.

Professional forms often require the insured's consent to settle.

CA Civ. Code §2860: reservation on an issue defense counsel can control may require independent counsel.

CA Civ. Code §2338: the firm answers for its agents' negligence in its business.

Insureds: the firm, plus partners and employees acting for it; not the client.

Excluded: dishonest or criminal acts; §533.5(a) bars covering criminal fines.

EPL fills the gap: employment decisions cause economic harm and CGL excludes them.

ERISA: a breaching fiduciary is personally liable; plan exculpation clauses are void.

ERISA bond = fraud or dishonesty; fiduciary insurance = breach of duty.

Derivative suit = shareholder sues in the corporation's right (Corp. Code §800).

CA §5239: insured volunteer nonprofit directors have no personal liability for ordinary negligence.

Insured persons: past and present directors and officers, not outside auditors.

Side A pays individuals; Side B reimburses the company; Side C covers the entity.

CA §317(i): insurance allowed even where indemnification is not.

Insured v. insured bars collusive suits; final adjudication keeps defense until judgment.

Suite = D&O, EPL, E&O, fiduciary, K&R, cyber; not premises bodily injury.

K&R pays ransom, ransom lost in transit and crisis consultants.

CA Civ. Code §1798.82: notify residents within 30 calendar days of a breach.

Standard EPLI covers employees, former employees and applicants; third parties need an endorsement.

Common exclusions: workers' comp, ERISA benefits, FLSA wage-and-hour.

A claim includes a written demand for non-monetary relief and an EEOC charge.

EPL damages include punitive and liquidated damages up to the limit, where insurable.

Under CA law, punitive damages for one's own malice are not insurable (PPG).

FEHA harassment rules reach employers with one or more employees.

BI exclusion carves out emotional distress and humiliation; no intentional-acts exclusion, but §533 applies.

Garage = auto businesses; motor carrier = hauling property; BAP = ordinary businesses.

CA §11580.9(a): business driver → garage policy primary; customer driver → garage policy excess.

One garage form reduces gaps between CGL and auto; customers' cars need garagekeepers.

Legal liability: pays only if the garage is legally liable.

Direct excess: no fault needed, but pays after the customer's own insurance.

Direct primary: no fault needed and pays first.

CA §11580.9(d): the owned-auto policy is primary; coverage follows the vehicle's policy.

Hired = leased, rented or borrowed; non-owned = employees' own cars used for the business.

UM can be deleted in writing; need not exceed $30,000/$60,000; UIM = limit minus amount paid.

2 = all owned; 3 = owned private passenger; 4 = owned other than private passenger.

8 = hired (not from employees); 9 = non-owned (includes employees' cars used for business).

Symbol 7 new autos: all owned autos covered or a replacement, plus notice within 30 days.

CA §11580.1(b)(4): permissive users must be covered; auto-business workers may be excluded.

Exclusion → alternative: employees → WC/EL; completed work → CGL; cargo → motor truck cargo.

Own fuel leaking from the tank is not excluded pollution.

Fellow employee: Lab. Code §3601 allows suits for intoxication or aggression; the BAP excludes them unless endorsed.

Comprehensive = any cause except collision or overturn; hitting an animal counts.

Specified causes = named perils; the auto's own collision is not one.

Individual Named Insured = person as named insured; Drive Other Car = named people driving autos they do not own.

CA §11580.9(h): trucker = transports property by auto for hire.

Motor Carrier Act of 1980 = deregulation plus financial responsibility; federal minimum at least $750,000.

Motor carrier form handles leased units, owner-operators and leases between carriers.

Umbrella can be broader and drop down; follow-form excess only adds limits.

Keep required underlying limits; the umbrella will not fill a gap the insured created.

SIR applies only when the umbrella covers a claim no underlying policy covers.

Lab. Code §3600(a): compensation without regard to negligence, in place of other liability.

Suits against the employer: willful assault, fraudulent concealment, certain defective products.

Coworker suits only for intoxication or unprovoked aggression; the employer is not liable for them.

Misclassified workers may never be insured or reported on payroll.

ABC test (Lab. Code §2775): hiring entity must prove A, B and C; failing one = employee.

Uninsured employer: may be sued; negligence presumed; no assumption-of-risk defense (§§3706, 3708).

Every employer except the state must secure compensation; no minimum headcount.

Methods: authorized insurer, or a state self-insurance certificate (individual or group).

A cash reserve without a certificate is not self-insurance.

SCIF: fairly competitive and neither more nor less than self-supporting (Ins. Code §11775).

§11784(c): may decline only for failed safety rules or risks beyond safe carrying.

Producers use SCIF as a market for employers private insurers decline.

Medical care: no overall dollar or time limit (Lab. Code §4600).

24 visits each for chiropractic, occupational therapy and physical therapy, unless authorized in writing or postsurgical.

3-day wait, paid back if over 14 days or hospitalized; TTD = 2/3 of weekly earnings.

Retraining voucher: up to $6,000; only $500 without documentation; cannot be settled.

Death benefit: $320,000 (3+), $290,000 (2), $250,000 (1 total dependent).

Burial: up to $10,000, in addition to the death benefit.

Claim fraud (Ins. Code §1871.4): fine up to $150,000 or double the fraud, plus restitution.

Premium fraud (§11760; §11880 for SCIF): fine up to $50,000 or double the fraud.

Misclassifying workers or understating payroll to cut premium is a crime even with no injury.

Employers liability (Ins. Code §11750.1(f)) answers employee suits outside compensation benefits.

Other states = liability under another state's law; voluntary comp = scheduled benefits for workers not required to be covered.

24-hour coverage (§1749.02) = WC plus nonoccupational coverage; never life insurance.

Classification reflects hazard; experience mod compares losses to peers and adjusts future premium (§11730).

State WC policies exclude workers under federal compensation laws.

DBA = overseas government contracts; Longshore = docks and ship repair; Jones Act = seamen's right to sue.