Comprehensive General Liability or Commercial General Liability (CGL) coverage provides broad insurance for claims against an insured alleging, among other things, bodily injury. A CGL insuring agreement will typically obligate the insurer to defend the insured in a lawsuit or to pay the costs of litigation, and to pay the judgement or settlement imposed on the policyholder.
Whether an alleged tortfeasor has this coverage often is one of the first and most fundamental inquiries made by plaintiff’s counsel when assessing a new case. A severely injured prospective client and seemingly clear liability on the part of the prospective defendant may become far less appealing to plaintiff’s counsel in the absence of this coverage. It may ultimately mean litigating a case for years through trial only to be left with an uncollectible judgment. This is one of the reasons why New York State’s Preliminary Conference Order form requires defendants to disclose the existence and limits of potentially available insurance.
