Buying The Right Insurance Coverage Is Only Half The Battle

This article originally appeared in Anderson Kill's Policyholder Advisor (September/October 2009).

Specialized insurance coverage, excluded from standard-form commercial general liability (CGL) policies, is available for risks specific to many industries. Common examples include policies for risks such as pollution, product recall, and food-borne illness. While such specialized policies can be indispensable to companies vulnerable to such risks, they are still subject to the overly broad coverage defenses that insurance companies use with CGL policies. No matter how comprehensive a company’s insurance portfolio, corporate counsel still needs to be prepared to fight for coverage once a loss occurs. Three recent insurance coverage battles in the food and restaurant industries — one involving a CGL claim and two involving claims under more specialized policies — illustrate this core principle.

This article also appeared in the Hospitality/Lawyer/Risk Management Newsletter, Volume I, Issue 4 (November 2009).