Guide · Insurance

Liability Insurance Coverage: A Comprehensive Guide to the Duty to Defend, Indemnify, and Settle

28 U.S.C. § 1335

Type
Guide
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2023-10-21
Topic
Insurance

This guide states the law governing liability insurance coverage from tender through indemnity. Part 1 covers policy architecture — insuring agreements, triggers, exclusions, conditions, definitions, and endorsements. Parts 2 and 3 cover the duty to defend, the eight corners rule, the extrinsic evidence split, reservations of rights, conflicts, and independent counsel. Part 4 covers the consequences of a wrongful refusal, including estoppel, consent judgments, and assignment of coverage claims. Parts 5 and 6 cover indemnity, allocation, exhaustion, other insurance, additional insured endorsements, and contractual indemnity. Part 7 covers bad faith and the excess judgment, including the constitutional limits on punitive awards. Part 8 covers coverage litigation procedure, parties, sequencing, burdens, and fees. Later parts address McCarran-Ferguson, ERISA preemption, insurer insolvency, and the state variations that decide many disputes.

Liability Insurance Coverage: A Comprehensive Guide to the Duty to Defend, Indemnify, and Settle

Insurance > Liability Coverage and the Duty to Defend | Published 21 October 2023 - Updated 9 February 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

Part 1 — Policy Architecture

1.1 The Insuring Agreement

A commercial general liability policy's Coverage A obligates the insurer to pay those sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies, and gives the insurer the right and duty to defend the insured against any suit seeking those damages, including suits that are groundless, false, or fraudulent. Coverage applies only if the injury is caused by an occurrence in the coverage territory during the policy period, and only if no insured knew of the injury before the period.

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