Additional Insured
A party added to a liability policy who receives coverage under the named insured's policy, typically required by contract.
What It Is
An Additional Insured is a person or organization that is not the named insured on a policy but has been added to the policy to receive liability coverage. This is typically accomplished through an endorsement to the Commercial General Liability policy.
The coverage granted to the additional insured is usually limited to liability arising out of the named insured's operations or premises. The additional insured does not receive the same breadth of coverage as the named insured — their protection is derivative and tied to the named insured's work.
Additional insured status is one of the most frequently requested contract requirements in commercial insurance. It is commonly required by landlords, general contractors, project owners, and municipalities as a risk transfer mechanism.
Why It Matters for Brokers
For commercial P&C brokers, additional insured requirements are the single most common source of certificate compliance issues. Nearly every commercial lease, subcontractor agreement, and vendor contract requires additional insured status. Getting it wrong — whether by failing to add the endorsement, using the wrong form, or not confirming the endorsement was issued — exposes your client to breach-of-contract claims and your agency to E&O liability. Brokers must verify not just that the endorsement exists, but that it matches the specific contractual language.
Real-World Example
A general contractor, Summit Builders LLC, hires a plumbing subcontractor for a $2.4M apartment project. The subcontract requires the sub to name Summit as an additional insured on a primary and noncontributory basis. The sub's broker adds CG 20 10 04 13 and CG 20 37 04 13 to the sub's $1M/$2M CGL policy. During construction, a third-party visitor trips over exposed plumbing and sues both companies. Because Summit is an additional insured, the sub's CGL policy responds first, protecting Summit's own loss history.
Common Mistakes
- 1Using the older CG 20 10 10 01 edition which limits ongoing operations coverage, instead of the broader CG 20 10 04 13 form required by most modern contracts.
- 2Failing to pair CG 20 10 with CG 20 37 for completed operations coverage, leaving the additional insured unprotected after the project wraps up.
- 3Assuming a blanket additional insured endorsement covers all contractual requirements without verifying that the underlying contract triggers the blanket language.
How brokerageaudit.com Handles This
Policy Checker automatically scans uploaded policies for additional insured endorsements, identifies the specific edition (e.g., CG 20 10 04 13 vs. 10 01), and cross-references it against the contract requirements stored in your deal record. COI Manager flags any certificate where additional insured status is listed on the ACORD 25 but no matching endorsement is found in the policy file, preventing your team from issuing non-compliant certificates.