Assault and Battery Coverage
Coverage that responds to bodily injury claims arising from intentional physical altercations on insured premises, often restricted or excluded in standard CGL forms.
What It Is
Assault and Battery Coverage addresses bodily injury claims that arise from intentional physical contact between people on or near insured premises. Examples include bar fights, security guard altercations, parking lot fights, and incidents involving bouncers, ushers, or staff in habitational and hospitality settings.
The unendorsed CGL form excludes expected or intended injury, and most carriers attach an additional assault and battery exclusion endorsement on bars, taverns, nightclubs, security firms, apartment complexes, and entertainment venues. To restore coverage, the carrier offers an assault and battery buyback, often with a sublimit such as $50,000, $100,000, or $300,000 per occurrence and a separate aggregate.
The buyback typically covers negligent hiring, training, and supervision allegations rather than the intentional act itself, and may include defense within or outside the limit. The policy language varies significantly by carrier, making careful form review essential.
Why It Matters for Brokers
For hospitality and habitational accounts, an assault and battery claim can quickly run to six or seven figures, especially with severe injuries or wrongful death allegations. A broker who places a nightclub on a CGL with a flat assault and battery exclusion and a $1 million per occurrence limit may believe the client is covered when in reality they have zero protection for the most likely loss type. Documenting the sublimit, recommending higher buyback limits, and setting client expectations in writing is core to managing E&O exposure on these classes.
Real-World Example
A neighborhood bar with a $1 million CGL limit and a $50,000 assault and battery sublimit faces a $750,000 settlement after a bouncer breaks a patron's jaw during an ejection. The carrier pays the $50,000 sublimit, exhausts defense within the sublimit, and the bar is on the hook for the remaining $700,000. The agency's E&O carrier later pays a $400,000 settlement because the broker did not document offering a $300,000 buyback at the prior renewal.
Common Mistakes
- 1Quoting a hospitality risk on a standard CGL without checking whether the assault and battery exclusion is endorsed flat or written back at a sublimit.
- 2Failing to disclose that defense costs erode the assault and battery sublimit, leaving the insured to fund their own defense after a single deposition.
- 3Assuming the umbrella sits over the assault and battery sublimit when in reality umbrellas typically follow form and exclude assault and battery entirely.
- 4Not offering a written buyback option at renewal, removing the broker's strongest defense if the client later sustains a large uncovered loss.
How brokerageaudit.com Handles This
Policy Checker reads the CGL form and flags assault and battery exclusions and sublimits against the insured's class code, generating a coverage gap notice for the producer. Renewal Manager prompts a documented buyback offer at every term for hospitality and habitational accounts, with the rejection captured in the Document Pipeline.