Did you know:

• General Liability excludes coverage for your liability for property damage to premises you use

With the exception of a few specific cases:

• Damage to the building portion only,
  • IF by fire
  • Only for your legal liability (claim must arise out of tort/out of your negligence)
• OR damage to the building and contents rented,
  • IF occupied by you for a week or less (defined as seven consecutive days)
  • For any reason that you would be liable OTHER than fire

Both of the above are:

• Subject to the “Damage to Premises Rented” sublimit shown in the declarations (usually $100,000 or less – and possibly $0)
• Only for that portion of the premises occupied by you (does not extend if your damage spreads to other areas of the building)

Any other damage to premises that you occupy is NOT covered by General Liability. If you pay attention to the statements above, you’ll see that a situation such as “FIRE damage to CONTENTS of a location rented for LESS than seven days” is NOT covered!

In addition, while General Liability contains Contractual Liability coverage, that you might think could help out with (lease or usage agreement) contractual requirement for coverage to premises,

• No coverage is provided by your GL for premises solely by a requirement in a lease (if you are not legally liable, even if you have agreed to be responsible, there is no insurance coverage)

So, when you have a special event, or a film production, and you provide a certificate showing that $1 million per occurrence general liability coverage, and your agent has explained

Liability comes in two parts:

1. Injury to people (bodily injury), and
2. damage to property

you think that you’re covered.

You’re not.

This is very important, especially in film production, where a location may be used for more than seven days (including a production office). You have a coverage gap. You have an area where you believe you are covered, but you are not.

There are (at least) three ways to provide for this potentially huge coverage gap:

1. Third Party Property Damage
   1. Covers property of others in your care, custody and control.
      1. This is the best coverage to add to cover a film location, but is generally NOT asked for by the locations who are asking for “General Liability only” certificates. So beware – without this coverage, you may have huge coverage gaps!
      2. Having a location owner listed as Loss Payee allows for direct payment and settlement with them in the event of a loss.
      3. This is the second most important film production insurance coverage to purchase, after General Liability!
2. Tenant Liability Endorsement (up to $1 million)
3. On a Commercial Property policy, you can add the Legal Liability Coverage Form, CP0040, which is for claims that arise from tort (you must be legally liable/negligent)