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

Coverage B: Personal and Advertising Injury

Coverage B pays damages for personal and advertising injury caused by an offense arising out of the insured's business. Unlike Coverage A, there is no occurrence requirement — these are intentional-type offenses, listed by name.

Personal and advertising injury is defined as injury, including consequential bodily injury, arising out of one or more enumerated offenses. Because the harm is to reputation or rights rather than from an accident, the trigger is the commission of a listed offense during the policy period.

The Enumerated Offenses

Coverage B applies to these offenses:

• False arrest, detention, or imprisonment
• Malicious prosecution
• Wrongful eviction from, wrongful entry into, or invasion of the right of private occupancy of a dwelling or premises the person occupies
• Oral or written publication of material that slanders or libels a person or organization or disparages goods, products, or services
• Oral or written publication that violates a person's right of privacy
• Use of another's advertising idea in the insured's advertisement
• Infringing upon another's copyright, trade dress, or slogan in the insured's advertisement

Coverage B Limits and Exclusions

Coverage B has its own Personal and Advertising Injury Limit (the most paid for all such injury sustained by any one person or organization). Like Coverage A premises/operations, it is subject to the shared General Aggregate.

Common exclusions: knowing violation of another's rights, material published with knowledge of falsity, criminal acts, breach of contract, and offenses by insureds in the business of advertising, broadcasting, publishing, or telecasting.

Coverage C: Medical Payments

Coverage C pays reasonable medical expenses for bodily injury caused by an accident on premises the insured owns or rents or arising from the insured's operations. The key feature: it pays regardless of fault (no-fault), as a goodwill gesture to avoid larger liability claims.

Covered expenses include first aid at the time of an accident, necessary medical, surgical, dental, and ambulance services, and funeral expenses. Payment is made only for expenses incurred and reported within a set time (generally one year of the accident date).

Who Coverage C Does NOT Cover

Medical Payments excludes:

Coverage C is subject to a Medical Expense Limit stated per person (commonly $5,000 or $10,000). It is the lowest-dollar coverage in the CGL.

Worked Example

A visitor trips on a store's display and incurs $7,500 in emergency-room bills. The store's CGL Medical Expense Limit is $5,000 per person.

• Coverage C pays $5,000 without any finding of fault — quickly, to discourage a lawsuit.
• If the visitor later sues and proves negligence for $40,000, Coverage A responds (subject to the Each Occurrence limit), and any Coverage C payment is typically credited against the Coverage A damages so the insured does not pay twice.

Coverage B/C Limits, Triggers, and Exam Traps

Coverage B (Personal and Advertising Injury Liability) responds to a defined list of offenses, not accidents: false arrest/detention, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, slander/libel, violation of privacy, use of another's advertising idea, and copyright/slogan infringement in your advertisement. Because it is offense-based, the trigger is when the offense is committed during the policy period, not when injury manifests.

Coverage C (Medical Payments) pays reasonable medical expenses, regardless of fault, for bodily injury to a member of the public on the insured's premises or arising from operations, if the expense is incurred and reported within a set time (commonly one year). It is goodwill, "no-fault" coverage meant to settle small injuries before they become liability claims.

Trap: Coverage B has its own exclusions — injury caused by an insured who knew the statement was false, breach of contract, and the insured being in the advertising, broadcasting, or media business. Worked scenario: A retailer's ad copies a competitor's slogan; the resulting suit is a Coverage B "infringement" claim. But if the retailer's actual business is advertising agency services, the media-business exclusion bars coverage, steering the risk to a media/professional liability policy instead.

Coverage B Offenses in Depth and a Worked Med-Pay Trap

Coverage B's personal injury offenses (false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction/entry, slander, libel, invasion of privacy) protect against non-bodily harms a business can cause in dealing with people; the advertising injury offenses (use of another's advertising idea, infringing copyright/trade dress/slogan in your advertisement) protect against marketing torts. A key exam point: Coverage B requires the offense to arise from the insured's business, and it excludes injury the insured knew was false, criminal acts, and breach of contract.

Worked Coverage C trap: A customer slips in a store and incurs $4,500 in medical bills. Coverage C (Med Pay) pays up to its sublimit (e.g., $5,000) without any finding of fault — fast goodwill coverage. But if an employee or the tenant of the premises is hurt, Coverage C does not pay (it covers the public, not insureds, tenants, or employees). Should the customer later sue alleging negligence, Coverage A takes over for the liability judgment and defense, and any Med Pay already paid is typically credited against the settlement — the same interplay tested for homeowners Coverages E and F.