Blog: Property Insurance

Co-authored by Chad Hall, RT Specialty. 1. Understanding the “Products-Completed Operations Hazard” ISO commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies use the term “products-completed operations hazard” (“PCOH”) to define a category of risk which is treated specially by certain exclusions within the policy and often subject to separate limits of insurance. In construction, we think about PCOH […]

After suffering historically destructive fires in 2018, California endured five of the six largest fires in state history in 2020. Nearly 10,000 fires burned over 4.2 million acres making 2020 the most significant California wildfire season on record. Sadly, a recent study from Stanford University2 predicts that the frequency and potency of these fires will only […]

New York is considering legislation, which, if enacted, would create a statute of repose limiting the number of years after completion of a construction project that legal action may be asserted against a contractor. New York currently remains the only state without a statute of repose for construction. Earlier this year, however, the New York […]

New York law has historically allowed insurers to recoup defense costs paid on behalf of an insured if there is ultimately no coverage for the underlying action, provided that the insurer reserved its rights to seek reimbursement. On December 30, 2020, the New York Appellate Division, Second Department declined to follow this longstanding principle in American […]

In New Jersey Transit Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London,1  New Jersey’s highest court upheld an appellate decision2  finding that New Jersey Transit Corporation (“NJT”) was entitled to full coverage under its property insurance policy for damages caused by Superstorm Sandy. In July 2012, NJT secured a multi-layered “all risks” property insurance program from […]

Risk transfer in the construction industry depends heavily on industry-standard insurance language. Insurance provisions in subcontracts typically reference ISO standard insurance terminology or endorsements in order to guarantee (or, at least, attempt to secure) coverage for upstream parties. The contract may require, for example, that a subcontractor maintains general liability insurance on a “current ISO […]

As the nation responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, bars and restaurants across the nation were shut down by local or state edict with no known re-opening date in sight. Other restaurants scaled way back to skeletal crews, providing take-out orders only. However, restaurants were not the only businesses that shuttered operations. As more and more […]

In response to the large number of COVID-19-related losses that businesses are experiencing, insurers have begun issuing statements informing their insureds of whether their policies will respond to the losses, and if so, what coverage will be afforded. Insurers cannot take a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the COVID-19 losses because, besides factual differences, the losses are […]

One aspect of many first-party property insurance policies that has been largely overlooked in association with the recent Coronavirus outbreak is protection of property coverage.1 Protection of property coverage, which can be found as a coverage extension or even as a condition in the policy, can take a variety of forms, but generally provides coverage for […]

If approved, New York Draft Assembly Bill A10226 (the “Bill”) would require property insurers to cover business interruption losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bill would have immediate retroactive effect applying to property policies containing business interruption and loss of use and occupancy coverage, and in force on March 7, 2020, the date Governor […]

What do you do when less is more? In many loss scenarios, triggering coverage under multiple policies can be a critical and effective strategy. However, doing so has the potential to complicate the insurance recovery proceedings immensely, and possibly even undermine those overall goals. The relation of “other insurance” clauses, allocation schemes, and the practical […]

The Travelers Indemnity Company (“Travelers”) recently released a new proprietary commercial general liability (“CGL”) form designated CG T1 00 02 19. The form is largely reflective of current ISO forms but includes one change that can significantly impact risk transfer when used by a trade contractor who has promised additional insured coverage to an upstream […]