CGL Coverage B: Personal and Advertising Injury, Coverage C: Medical Payments

CGL Coverage B: Personal and Advertising Injury Liability

Coverage B of the CGL (CG 00 01) responds to personal and advertising injury — a category of intangible, non-physical injuries that Coverage A does not reach. Like Coverage A, the insurer has both a duty to pay damages and a duty to defend, with defense costs paid in addition to the limit. The trigger for Coverage B is the offense being committed during the policy period in the coverage territory — note this is offense-based, not occurrence-based.

The Seven Enumerated Offenses

"Personal and advertising injury" is defined as injury arising out of one or more of these listed offenses:

1. False arrest, detention, or imprisonment
2. Malicious prosecution
3. Wrongful eviction, wrongful entry, or invasion of the right of private occupancy
4. Oral or written publication that slanders or libels a person or organization (defamation)
5. Oral or written publication that violates a person's right of privacy
6. Use of another's advertising idea in the insured's advertisement
7. Infringing upon another's copyright, trade dress, or slogan in the insured's advertisement

A classic exam trap: patent and trademark infringement are NOT covered under Coverage B — only copyright, trade dress, and slogan in your advertisement.

Coverage B Exclusions

Coverage B contains its own exclusion list, including:

• Knowing violation of another's rights
• Material published with knowledge of falsity
• Material first published before the policy period
• Criminal acts committed by the insured
• Contractual liability (with limited exception)
• Breach of contract other than misappropriation of advertising ideas
• Quality or performance of goods (failure to conform to statements)
• Wrong description of prices
• Infringement of patent/trademark (only copyright, trade dress, slogan are in scope)
• Insureds in the media/advertising business (publishing, broadcasting, telecasting)

Coverage B and Coverage C Compared

The CGL bundles three insuring agreements. Beyond Coverage A (BI/PD), the form provides:

Coverage B applies only to the listed offenses; it is not a catch-all for any non-BI harm. Coverage C is a small no-fault goodwill coverage (often $5,000-$10,000 per person) that does not apply to the insured, employees in the course of employment, tenants, or those injured by the products/completed-operations hazard.

Exam trap: Coverage C Medical Payments pays without regard to fault and is meant to settle minor third-party injuries quickly and avoid litigation; it excludes the insured and employees. Coverage B advertising injury requires the offense to arise out of the insured's advertising - a contractual or pure-business-tort claim outside advertising is not covered. Personal injury (Coverage B) and bodily injury (Coverage A) are distinct categories with separate triggers.

Practical Triggers and Common Disputes

In practice, Coverage B disputes turn on whether the alleged offense (1) is one of the named offenses and (2) arose out of the insured's advertising or business conduct. A defamation claim from a business dispute may fall under personal injury; a slogan-infringement claim arises from advertising injury. Coverage C disputes turn on who was hurt and when, because employees, tenants, and the products-completed-operations hazard are excluded.

Exam tip: Use the simple test - Coverage A for accidents causing BI/PD, Coverage B for the listed offense-based injuries (reputation, privacy, advertising), and Coverage C for small no-fault medical goodwill to non-employees. Because Coverage C pays regardless of fault, it is often used to defuse a minor third-party injury before it becomes a Coverage A liability claim. Each coverage has its own limit and its own exclusions.

Coverage C: Medical Payments

Coverage C — Medical Payments pays reasonable medical expenses for bodily injury caused by an accident on premises the insured owns/rents or because of the insured's operations — regardless of fault. This is a goodwill, no-fault coverage designed to settle minor injuries quickly and discourage liability suits.

Key conditions: the accident must take place in the coverage territory during the policy period, and expenses must be incurred and reported within one year of the accident date. Medical Payments has its own sub-limit, typically $5,000 or $10,000 per person, which is lower than and within the Coverage A limits.

Coverage C: Who Is Excluded

Med Pay does not apply to:

• Any insured (the named insured, employees, etc.)
• A person hired to do work for the insured
• A person injured on that part of premises the insured rents (a tenant occupant)
• A person taking part in athletics
• Anyone whose injury is covered by Workers Compensation
• Injury arising out of the products-completed operations hazard or otherwise excluded under Coverage A

Because Med Pay pays without regard to fault, any amount paid is typically credited against damages owed if the same person later wins a Coverage A liability claim.

How the Limits Stack

Coverage B (personal & advertising injury) shares the General Aggregate but has its own per-person/organization limit (the Personal & Advertising Injury Limit). Coverage C (Med Pay) caps each person at the Medical Expense limit. A typical CGL declarations page reads:

Damages-only payments erode the aggregates; defense costs do not.