Coverage for customer injuries and property damage, plus the certificates and endorsements your clients, landlords and partners ask for.
General liability covers claims that someone outside your business was hurt, or their property was damaged, because of your operations, your premises or your products. That includes a visitor who slips in your lobby, damage your team causes at a client’s site and problems that surface after a job or sale is finished.
Most commercial leases, client contracts and vendor agreements require it, and many require specific endorsements. We help you match your policy to the agreements you sign.
Injuries to customers, visitors or the public connected to your business.
Damage your business causes to someone else’s property, at your location or theirs.
Claims from products you sell or work you’ve finished, after they leave your hands.
Claims such as libel, slander or copying someone’s advertising.
Read your lease or contract before you request a certificate. These are the items that come up most.
Proof of your coverage, sent to the certificate holder.
Extends your policy to protect a landlord, client or project owner.
Your carrier agrees not to pursue the other party after a claim.
Your policy responds first, before the other party’s coverage.
Most general liability insurance for California businesses is written on an occurrence form. That means the policy that was in force when the injury or damage happened is the one that responds, even if the claim is filed years later after you’ve changed carriers.
A claims-made form responds to claims first made while the policy is active, and often only for events after a retroactive date. Claims-made forms are more common in professional liability, but they do show up in some general liability markets. If you’re offered one, ask about the retroactive date and what happens if you cancel or switch, because you may need an extended reporting period, sometimes called tail coverage.
Some of the most expensive claims show up after the sale or the job is done: a product that injures a customer months later, equipment you installed that fails, or a renovation that leads to water damage. Coverage for this is called products-completed operations, and it usually has its own aggregate limit on the declarations page.
Watch for a few things:
An additional insured endorsement extends some of your policy’s protection to another party, usually a landlord, a client, a project owner or a retailer that sells your products. It doesn’t make them a named insured, and the coverage they get is usually limited to claims arising out of your operations.
Additional insured endorsements come in a few common forms:
Many contracts spell out exactly which endorsement forms or editions they want. If the contract requires both ongoing and completed operations and your policy only has one, the certificate may be rejected. Send us the insurance section of your lease or contract and we can compare it with your policy.
After a carrier pays a claim, it normally has the right to go after whoever caused the loss. That’s subrogation. A waiver of subrogation means your carrier agrees not to pursue the party you name, usually a landlord, client or project owner.
Contracts often ask for a waiver on your general liability, commercial auto and workers’ compensation policies. Each policy needs its own endorsement, and some carriers charge for it. A blanket waiver can cover parties you’re required to waive by written contract.
When two policies could respond to the same claim, they may share it. Primary and non-contributory wording means your policy pays first and doesn’t ask the other party’s policy to contribute. Landlords and clients ask for it because they don’t want their own loss history affected by your operations.
This also takes endorsement wording on your policy. A certificate that simply says “primary and non-contributory” without the endorsement behind it doesn’t change the coverage.
General liability insurance for California businesses varies a lot from carrier to carrier, and the exclusions often matter more than the limits. Depending on your industry and the form, look for:
If your business changes, for example a restaurant adding catering or a technology company adding on-site installation, tell us before you start. Operations outside your described class may not be covered.
A general liability policy has a general aggregate, the most it will pay in a policy year for most claims combined. If you have several locations or large projects, one bad claim can use up limits you need for the others.
A per-location aggregate endorsement gives each of your premises its own aggregate limit, and a per-project version does the same for designated projects. Many leases and construction contracts require one, and they’re worth considering even when they don’t.
The declarations page of a general liability policy usually lists several limits, and each one works a little differently:
When a contract lists required limits, check each line, not just the occurrence limit. If a contract asks for more than your policy provides, an umbrella is often how businesses close the difference.
General liability insurance for California businesses is rated on what you tell the carrier about your operations, usually your class of business and your revenue, payroll or square footage. If your operations change during the year, such as a new location, a new product line or larger contracts, let us know so the policy keeps describing what you actually do.
Many general liability policies are also audited at the end of the term, much like workers’ compensation, so accurate records of revenue, payroll and subcontractor costs matter here too.
A certificate of insurance is a one-page summary of your coverage on a given date. It’s informational. It doesn’t change, add or extend coverage, and it doesn’t make anyone an additional insured by itself. The endorsements on your policy do that.
When a landlord or client asks for a certificate, they’ll usually want:
You can send us those details through the certificate request form. We review each request against your policy. Submitting the form doesn’t issue a certificate or add coverage on its own.
Send us the requirements from your contract, lease or credentialing packet, including the certificate holder, additional insured and waiver of subrogation, so we can review your request.
No. Your own property needs separate coverage, usually commercial property or, for equipment that moves between locations, inland marine.
No. Employee injuries are covered by workers’ compensation.
An endorsement that extends your policy’s protection to another party, such as a landlord, client or project owner, for claims arising from your operations.
Yes. Send us the certificate holder’s details and contract requirements through our certificate request form and we’ll review your request.
They want additional insured status that applies both while you’re working and after the job is finished. These are often separate endorsements, so your policy needs both for the certificate to match the contract.
Usually not. Most policies exclude the cost of repairing or replacing your own work, but may cover damage your work causes to other property or injuries to other people, depending on the policy wording.
For businesses that sign many leases or client contracts, blanket endorsements are often easier, because anyone you’re required to add by written contract can qualify. Some contracts still require specific forms, so it’s worth checking the contract language.
It’s when your employee is hurt at a client’s site, sues the client or property owner, and they then seek recovery from you under your contract or as an additional insured. Some policies exclude or limit these claims, so it’s worth asking about, especially if your team works on client premises.
No. A certificate only summarizes your coverage. Additional insured status comes from an endorsement on your policy.
Tell us about your business and the leases and contracts you sign. We’ll shop multiple carriers.
Tell us a little about your business. A licensed broker will follow up.
