Long Insurance offers property and causality insurance for both the commercial and personal lines markets in the Greensboro, Winston-Salem & High Point markets. We offerings include but are not limited to:
Commercial Lines
Property Coverage
Commercial Auto
Business Life Insurance
Umbrella
Workers Compensation
Inland Marine
General Liability
Professional Liability
Bonds
Blanket Insurance
A single amount of insurance covering several items, e.g., one amount of insurance to cover two buildings, or one building and its contents. Such policies usually require the fulfillment of certain restrictions which may not be required in “specific” or “itemized” policies, such as the use of a 90% coinsurance clause.
Coinsurance
Insurance plan in which the insurer provides indemnity for only a certain percentage of the insured’s loss, reflecting the relative division of risk between insurer and insured. A coinsurance clause of 80%, for example, requires the property owner to keep property insured to at least that percentage of the property value. If the insured fails to keep that much insurance, he will not be reimbursed for the full loss.
PROPERTY INSURANCE: designed to protect your company’s buildings, property, and contents. It protects against loss from perils including: fire, lightning, hail, windstorm, explosion (except when caused by boiler), civil commotion, riot, aircraft, vehicles, smoke, volcanic eruption, sprinkler system leakage, sinkhole collapse, vandalism, or malicious mischief. The above is referred to as basic insurance coverage and can be broadened to include other perils.
BUSINESS PERSONAL PROPERTY: traditionally known as “contents”, this term actually refers to furniture, fixtures, equipment, machinery, merchandise, materials, and all other personal property owned by the insured and used in the insured’s business.
COINSURANCE: clause that applies to building and personal property coverages. The coinsurance clause protects an insurance company when a property is underinsured. If a policy has a coinsurance clause, a coinsurance percentage will appear on the Declarations page of the policy. The insurance company uses this percentage in a formula to determine how much to pay for the property in the event of a loss. The insurance company will not pay the full amount of the loss if, at the time of loss, the value of the covered property times the coinsurance percentage exceeds the limit of insurance for the property.
BUSINESS INCOME INCLUDING EXTRA EXPENSE: net income (net profit or loss before income tax) that would be earned and continuing normal operating expenses (including payroll).
DEDUCTIBLE: the amount of loss which an insured must pay before the insurance company will pay its portion of the loss.
GENERAL LIABILITY: provides protection against damages for bodily injury or property damages for which the insured is legally responsible. The policy provides coverage for liability arising from personal injury and advertising injury. Coverage for medical expense is also provided. The policy provides supplemental payments for attorney fees, court costs and other expenses associated with a claim or the defense of a liability suit.
GENERAL AGGREGATE: the most money the insurer will pay under certain coverage for all claims occurring during the policy term.
EACH OCCURRENCE: considered to be an accident, which could include sudden events, a long series of events, or continuous or repeated exposure to the same harmful conditions.
PREMISES/OPERATIONS: provided for damages arising out of ownership or occupancy of the insured premises. This also covers damages arising out of operations performed by the insured business.
PRODUCTS/COMPLETED OPERATIONS: provided for damages arising out of products manufactured, sold, handled or distributed by the insured. Completed Operations covers damages occurring after operations have been completed or abandoned, or after an item is installed or built and released for its intended purpose.
MEDICAL EXPENSE LIMIT: pays medical expenses resulting from bodily injury caused by an accident on premises owned or rented by the insured, or when caused by the insured’s operations. These payments are made without regard to the liability of the insured.
FIRE DAMAGE LIMIT: provides coverage for fire damage caused by negligence on the part of the insured to premises rented to the insured.
PERSONAL INJURY: provides coverage for injury (other than bodily injury) resulting from libel, slander, false arrest, malicious prosecution, detention or imprisonment, the wrongful entry into, wrongful eviction from and other acts of invasion, or rights of private occupancy of a room.
ADVERTISING INJURY: coverage for damages done by oral or written advertisement that libels or slanders another’s goods, products or services but is provided only if the offense occurs during the course of advertising the named insured’s own goods, products or services.
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY INSURANCE: liability insurance to indemnify professionals, doctors, lawyers, architects, etc. for the loss or expense resulting from claim on account of bodily injuries because of any malpractice, error or mistake committed or alleged to have been committed by the insured in their profession.
UMBRELLA LIABILITY: provides excess liability coverage over several of the insured’s primary liability policies. Most umbrella liability policies provide coverage that is broader than the insured’s primary policies. An excess liability policy may be what is called a following form policy, which means it is subject to the same terms as the underlying policies; it may be a self-contained policy, which means it is subject to its own terms only; or it may be a combination of these two types of excess policies. Umbrella policies have three functions: (1) to provide additional limits above the each occurrence limit of the insured’s primary policies; (2) to take the place of primary insurance when primary aggregate limits are reduced or exhausted; and (3) to provide broader coverage for some claims that would not be covered by the insured’s primary insurance policies, which would be subject to the policy retention. Most umbrella liability policies contain one comprehensive insuring agreement. The agreement usually states it will pay the ultimate net loss, which is the total amount in excess of the primary limit for which the insured becomes legally obligated to pay for damages of bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, and advertising injury.
LIMITS OF INSURANCE: all umbrella liability policies contain an each occurrence limit of insurance. Some umbrella liability policies may have a separate limit that applies to all personal and advertising injury for one person or for the organization. Also, some policies are written with aggregate limits for only one type of loss. Other policies may have one or more aggregates for all losses. Umbrella policies can be written with several different variations of the aggregate limits. There are no standard umbrella policies.
GENERAL AGGREGATE: the most money the insurer will pay under certain coverage for all claims occurring during the policy term.
PAY ON BEHALF: promises to make direct payment on behalf of the insured for those sums of money the insured becomes legally obligated to pay because of liability imposed upon the insured by law, or assumed under contract.
INDEMNITY: the insurer will indemnify or reimburse the insured for those sums of money the insured becomes obligated to pay by reason of liability imposed upon the insured by law, or assumed under contract.
SELF INSURED RETENTION: the amount of the loss an insured must pay before the umbrella policy would be required to respond. The self insured retention would only apply when a loss is excluded from coverage under the primary policy, but not excluded under the umbrella policy.
REQUIRED UNDERLYING LIMITS: requires the insured to have certain types and amounts of primary insurance before the umbrella policy can be written.
Workers Compensation:The purpose of Workers Compensation insurance is to provide medical and disability benefits for those who suffer an occupational injury or accident.
COVERED INJURIES: occupational injury is one that arises out of and in the course of employment. In the course of employment means that for the injury to be compensable, it must occur when the employee is at work, during the hours in which he is expected to be there, and while he is engaged in the work he is employed to do.
COVERED ACCIDENTS: occupational accidents must arise out of employment and are caused by poor conditions or lack of attention to the work at hand.
Workers Compensation insurance applies under the following criteria:
- The bodily injury must be sustained by an employee included in the group of employees described in the schedule of salary classification codes.
- The bodily injury must arise out of and in the course of employment necessary or incidental to work in a state listed in the schedule.
- The bodily injury must occur in the United States, its territories or possessions, or Canada, and may occur elsewhere if the employee is a United States or Canadian citizen temporarily away from those places.
- A bodily injury by accident must occur during the policy period.
- A bodily injury by disease must be caused or aggravated by the conditions of employment. The employee’s last day or last exposure to the conditions or aggravating such bodily injury by disease must occur during the policy period.
EXPERIENCE MODIFICATION: a factor that deals with the rating of the policy. The Experience Modification figure is based on the insured’s loss experience. The factor is used to increase or decrease the manual rates of insurance.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, PARTNERS EXCLUSION ENDORSEMENT: in some states, workers compensation law allows an insured to include or exclude Executive Officers and Partners, or both, from coverage. Adding this endorsement can designate the individuals not covered under the policy.
OWNED AUTO: provided for all autos owned by the named insured. The owned auto symbol is used for liability insurance only.
ANY AUTOMOBILE: provided for any auto, including autos owned by the insured, autos the named insured hires or borrows from others, and other non-owned autos used in the insured’s business.
COLLISION COVERAGE: provides protection against loss or damage to a covered auto or a non-owned auto resulting from the impact with another vehicle or object. Collision losses are paid regardless of fault.
COMPREHENSIVE COVERAGE: provides protection against loss or damage to a covered auto resulting from loss other than a collision or upset. This coverage also provides for supplemental payments for transportation expenses in the event of total theft of a covered auto or a non-owned auto. Coverage begins forty-eight hours after the theft.
HIRED AUTO: provided only for autos leased, hired, rented, or borrowed for use in the named insured’s business.
NON-OWNED AUTOS: provided only for autos not owned, leased, hired, or borrowed by the named insured. Coverage includes autos owned by the insured’s employees or members of their households, but only while used in the named insured’s business or personal affairs.
LIABILITY COVERAGE: provides protection against legal liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of any insured automobile. The insurer agrees to pay damages for bodily injury or property damage for which the insured is legally responsible because of an automobile accident with a covered auto of the insured. The insuring agreement also states that in addition to the payment of damages for which the insured is legally liable, the insurer also agrees to defend the insured for all legal defense costs. The defense costs are in addition to the policy limits.
MEDICAL PAYMENTS COVERAGE: the insuring agreement states that the insurer will pay all reasonable and necessary medical and funeral expenses incurred by the insured because of bodily injury caused by an accident. The insured is the named insured or the named insured’s employees or guests or any other person occupying a covered auto. These payments are made without regard to fault.
RENTAL REIMBURSEMENT: the business auto policy provides a coverage extension if an auto is insured for comprehensive or specified cause of loss coverage which insures against loss of use of a covered auto only if the auto is a private passenger type auto and is stolen. The coverage extension pays up to a daily limit of $10 and a maximum limit of $300. Payments begin forty-eight hours after the theft and end when the insured auto is returned or when the insurer has paid the insured for the auto. However for broader coverage, the insured can pay an additional premium for rental reimbursement coverage. Rental reimbursement pays the cost of renting a substitute auto for replacement of any covered auto that has suffered a covered loss. The daily and maximum limit for this coverage varies among insurers.
SPECIFIED CAUSE OF LOSS: provides coverage against loss from fire, lightning, explosion, theft, windstorm, hail, earthquake, flood, mischief, or vandalism, and from the sinking, burning, collision or derailment of a conveyance transporting the covered auto.
TOWING AND LABOR: when this coverage is added, the insurer pays up to a stated amount for towing and labor costs each time a covered auto or non-owned auto is disabled.
UNINSURED MOTORIST: pays for bodily injury to an insured injured by an uninsured motorist, a hit-and-run driver, or a driver whose insurer becomes insolvent. These benefits are paid under the named insured’s policy.
UNDERINSURED MOTORIST: this coverage is added to supplement the Uninsured Motorist Coverage. The coverage applies only when the other driver has liability limits at the time of an accident which may be insufficient to pay for damages for which that other driver is responsible. This is when the insured’s underinsured motorist coverage would apply and payment for the difference could be made. The two coverages are mutually exclusive and do not overlap or duplicate each other.
PERSONAL INJURY PROTECTION (PIP): adds no-fault benefits. In applicable states, in the event of an automobile accident, each party collects from his or her own insurer.
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.
Additional Named Insured
- A person or organization, other than the first named insured, identified as an insured in the policy declarations or an addendum to the policy declarations. (2) A person or organization added to a policy after the policy is written with the status of named insured. This entity would have the same rights and responsibilities as an entity named as an insured in the policy declarations (other than those rights and responsibilities reserved to the first named insured). In this sense, the term can be contrasted with additional insured, a person or organization added to a policy as an insured but not as a named insured. The term has not acquired a uniformly agreed upon meaning within the insurance industry, and use of the term in the two different senses defined above often produces confusion in requests for additional insured status between contracting parties.
Example:
Businesses work with other businesses, that is the nature of our economy. A contractor builds a house using the work of sub-contractors who provide different services, materials, and labor to the project. The businesses promise to do this work by contract or agreement. All of the different companies may be at the same place at the same time.
How does your business insurance work to protect against the risk of some other company, vendor, or sub-contractor causing damage to people or property of the mutual customer?
This is where the additional insured endorsement comes in. One party will add the other party as an “additional insured” on their commercial liability business insurance policy. Now, this is a general article and the case law pertaining to additional insured coverage and indemnity agreements differs by state and you must work with a competent local attorney and competent insurance professional if your business involves a great deal of work with other businesses involving contracts and agreements. For example, event promoters, construction contractors, commercial landlords, and any business that involves sub-contractors or independent contractors.
By adding an entity to your policy as an additional insured you are protecting that entity against your company’s negligence. By having another entity add your business as an additional insured that company is protecting you against their negligence. Let’s look examples:
You run a construction company. Big General Contracting contracts with your company to lay out all the driveways and side walks on a project. The contract requires you to add Big General Contracting to add them as an additional insured – and, you do. The cement is poured and a visitor slips and falls in a hole in the cement walk. The pedestrian sues your company and Big General Contracting. Your insurance would cover Big General as an additional insured.
Same example above, but your company sub-contracted the side walks to Third Contract Company. Your contract with them requires them to add your company as an additional insured. The fall occurs as a result of Third’s negligence. The pedestrian sues your company and Third. Third’s policy covers your company as an additional insured.
Finally, if the pedestrian sued all three companies, your policy would cover Big General as an additional insured and Third’s policy covers your company as an additional insured. And, if Big General had demanded it by contract, it could very well be that Big General is also an additional insured on Third’s policy.
Additional insured status must be added by certificate and endorsement. That means there is a formal process to follow with your insurer and you must make sure those businesses you work with who claim to have added you have actually done so. Demand to see the actual endorsement and not just “proof” of insurance.
Additional insured status DOES NOT mean the additional insured does not need insurance. It means the additional insured has controlled the risk of others’ negligence and can rely on their own business insurance policy to protect against their negligence.
Additional insured status does not give the same rights under the policy terms as a “named insured” or “insured” and these are technical distinctions that need to be reviewed with local insurance professionals in the context of whatever state is applicable.
Whenever your business enters into a project with another business or contracts with another business on an endeavor follow these four general principals:
- Never assume the other business has liability coverage and obtain a certificate of insurance to verify their insurance coverage.
- As a part of a written contract, demand a copy of the additional insured endorsement and review it with your insurance professional and legal representative.
- Understand what your additional insured coverage status covers and look at your liability policy. There may be gaps in coverage that can be easily fixed (before the relationship starts).
- Read the contract requirements and write the contract requirements carefully to make sure your business is not jeopardizing its own coverage in agreeing to add additional insureds and know what you are extending when you agree to add additional insured. Sinilarly, know what you are demanding you’re your business asks for that status from another business on their business insurance policy.
