The commercial general liability policy (ISO CG 00 01) is explained in the national guide. Coverage A is bodily injury and property damage. Coverage B is personal and advertising injury. Coverage C is medical payments. The guide also covers the occurrence and claims-made triggers, the aggregate limits and the main exclusions. Colorado adds statutes on construction defect coverage and loss in progress clauses.

The national concepts in brief

• Coverage A pays damages the insured is legally obligated to pay for third-party bodily injury or property damage caused by an occurrence.
• Coverage B covers offenses such as libel, slander, false arrest and certain advertising injuries.
• Coverage C pays limited medical costs for people hurt on the premises or by the insured's operations, regardless of fault.
• An occurrence form covers injury or damage during the policy period even if the claim comes years later. A claims-made form covers claims first made during the period, subject to any retroactive date.
• Products-completed operations covers harm caused by the insured's products or finished work away from its premises.

Colorado construction-defect rules (C.R.S. 13-20-808)

• Accident presumption: courts presume that a construction professional's work that causes property damage is an accident (an occurrence), unless the insured intended and expected the damage (13-20-808(3)).
• Burden of proof: the insurer must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that an exclusion or limitation applies and that no exception restores coverage (13-20-808(6)).
• Duty to defend: the duty is triggered when a statutory notice of claim, a complaint, a cross-claim or a similar filing alleges a potentially covered construction-defect liability (13-20-808(7)(a)).

Loss in progress (C.R.S. 10-4-110.4)

• A clause excluding injury or damage that began before the policy started and continued into it is void if the insured didn't know about the damage when the policy began.

Related Colorado rules for commercial policies

• Cancellation: 45 days' notice, or 10 days for nonpayment. Midterm cancellation is allowed only for nonpayment, a knowingly false application statement, or a substantial change in exposure (10-4-109.7).
• Nonrenewal: 45 days' notice (10-4-110). These notice rules don't apply to surplus lines insurers.

Exam traps

• In Colorado, a construction defect is presumed an accident. The insurer carries the burden of proving an exclusion applies.
• A loss-in-progress exclusion fails if the damage was unknown to the insured at inception.
• Commercial notice is 45 days, longer than the 30 days for auto.