8.4 Bodily Injury, Property Damage, and Personal/Advertising Injury
Key Takeaways
- The ISO CGL (CG 00 01) provides Coverage A (bodily injury/property damage), Coverage B (personal & advertising injury), and Coverage C (medical payments).
- Bodily injury means bodily injury, sickness, or disease including death; it generally excludes pure mental anguish without physical injury.
- Property damage includes both physical injury to tangible property and loss of use of tangible property not physically injured; electronic data is not tangible property.
- Coverage B pays for seven listed offenses (libel, slander, false arrest, invasion of privacy, advertising-idea misuse, etc.), buying back intentional offenses excluded under Coverage A.
- The each-occurrence limit caps a single loss; the general aggregate caps the year, and products-completed operations has its own separate aggregate.
The CGL Insuring Agreements
The ISO Commercial General Liability form (CG 00 01) provides three coverages, each defined by what kind of injury it pays for. Knowing the precise definitions — and the limits structure — is heavily tested.
| Coverage | What it pays for | ISO term |
|---|---|---|
| Coverage A | Bodily injury and property damage | Caused by an occurrence |
| Coverage B | Personal and advertising injury | Specific listed offenses |
| Coverage C | Medical payments | No-fault, regardless of liability |
Bodily Injury (BI)
Under the CGL, bodily injury means bodily injury, sickness, or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting from any of these. Note what is missing: standard CGL BI does not include mental anguish or emotional distress unless it stems from a physical injury — a classic exam distinction.
Property Damage (PD)
Property damage has two prongs:
- Physical injury to tangible property, including resulting loss of use; and
- Loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured.
Trap: electronic data is not tangible property under the CGL, so corrupting a customer's data is generally not "property damage." Loss of use without physical injury (a blocked driveway preventing access) still qualifies as PD.
Personal and Advertising Injury (Coverage B)
Coverage B pays for injury arising from specifically listed offenses, not from negligence-caused physical harm. The seven offenses you must recognize:
- False arrest, detention, or imprisonment
- Malicious prosecution
- Wrongful eviction/entry or invasion of private occupancy
- Oral or written publication that slanders or libels a person/organization
- Publication that violates a person's right of privacy
- The use of another's advertising idea in your advertisement
- Infringement of copyright, trade dress, or slogan in your advertisement
Because these are intentional offenses, Coverage B is the buy-back that fills the CGL's intentional-act exclusion for things like libel and slander.
CGL Limits Structure and a Worked Aggregate
The CGL stacks several limits. Memorize how a single occurrence draws down the aggregate.
| Limit | Typical value | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Each Occurrence | $1,000,000 | Most a single occurrence pays (A + C combined) |
| Personal & Advertising Injury | $1,000,000 | Per person/organization (Coverage B) |
| General Aggregate | $2,000,000 | Caps all A, B, C losses for the policy year |
| Products-Completed Operations Aggregate | $2,000,000 | Separate cap for products/completed-ops losses |
| Damage to Premises Rented to You | $300,000 | Fire (and limited perils) to rented premises |
| Medical Payments | $5,000 | Per person, no-fault |
Worked Example
An insured with a $1M each-occurrence / $2M general aggregate CGL has two unrelated liability losses in one year: a $1.2M judgment and a $900,000 judgment.
- The $1.2M loss is capped at the $1M each-occurrence limit → insurer pays $1,000,000; the insured absorbs the $200,000 excess.
- The $900,000 loss is under the occurrence limit, so the insurer pays $900,000.
- Total paid = $1,900,000, leaving $100,000 of the $2M general aggregate. A third loss would draw only that remaining $100,000.
Trap: products-completed-operations losses do not erode the general aggregate — they draw on their own separate $2M aggregate.
The Four Injury Definitions in Liability Forms
Liability policies, especially the CGL, distinguish four categories of harm, and matching a fact pattern to the right one is a guaranteed exam skill:
| Term | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Bodily Injury (BI) | Physical injury, sickness, disease, including death | A customer breaks an arm in a store |
| Property Damage (PD) | Physical injury to tangible property, including loss of use | A contractor cracks a client's driveway |
| Personal Injury | Offenses: false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, libel/slander | A tenant wrongfully evicted |
| Advertising Injury | Offenses in the insured's advertising: libel, slander, copyright/slogan infringement | An ad that defames a competitor |
Why the Distinctions Drive Coverage
The CGL splits its insuring agreements along these lines: Coverage A responds to bodily injury and property damage caused by an occurrence; Coverage B responds to personal and advertising injury, which are listed offenses rather than accidents. That structural split is exactly why the definitions matter.
Worked example: a restaurant's sign falls and injures a passerby — that is bodily injury under Coverage A. If instead the restaurant's radio ad falsely accuses a rival of selling spoiled food, that is advertising injury under Coverage B. Loss of use without physical damage (a contractor blocks access to a neighbor's parking lot, costing them rent) still counts as property damage because the definition includes loss of use of tangible property. Sorting these terms correctly tells you which coverage part — and which limit — applies.
Loss of Use Without Physical Damage
The property-damage definition has two prongs: physical injury to tangible property (including resulting loss of use), and loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured. The second prong matters when an insured's act denies others the use of undamaged property — for example, a contractor who blocks a store's entrance for days, costing lost business. That economic loss is property damage even though nothing was physically harmed, and Coverage A can respond if caused by an occurrence.
Personal vs. Advertising Injury Offenses
Coverage B lumps two offense groups together but they are distinct. Personal injury offenses include false arrest/detention, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction or entry, and oral/written publication that slanders or libels a person. Advertising injury offenses occur specifically in the insured's advertisement: libel/slander, violation of privacy, misappropriation of advertising ideas, and infringement of copyright, slogan, or title. A landlord's wrongful eviction is personal injury; a defamatory marketing campaign is advertising injury.
Because these are intentional offenses rather than accidents, Coverage B does not require an "occurrence," only that a listed offense was committed in the course of the insured's business.
A contractor's negligence blocks access to a neighboring store's loading dock for a week, though nothing is physically damaged. Under the CGL, this is:
A CGL has a $1,000,000 each-occurrence limit and a $2,000,000 general aggregate. After paying a $1.2M judgment and a $900,000 judgment in the same year, how much general aggregate remains?