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I am looking for a company that will insure my client who does work, such as installs and repairs satelite dishes on the large towers. The problem I am facing is that the certificates for the work he does must have the following wording on it:
"All policies contain a severability of interest provision and remove cross liability exclusions."
The companies I have questioned, including several excess markets, have come back with "no way". But he is told that there are companies out there that will allow this wording. I am beginning to think agents are just put the wording on the cert. to accommadate the insured. Has anyone else come across this wording on a certificate of insurance

Is your client under contract with the firm requiring the additional wording on the COI?

Yes, he is under contract.

Ask them who the company's are and contact them directly and ask do they allow you to do this. Get a letter if they do not to show your insured.

I have already done that. Insured went to the company and asked "who on your certificates in Michigan is allowing that wording"...they told my insured they could not give that information out. I run up against walls all over. The insurance companies are saying "Nay, Nay' but certificates are going to the big company with the wording on them and no one seems to be able to help us track down what insurance company allows it. I think I need to retire....................

We encounter this situation at least once a week with our clients in AZ. The problem we find is that for some classes this wording is still available but not for the class we insure. We've had some luck in having the underwriter state the wording is not available for our insured in writing to the requesting party and they've waived the requirement. As a result, we now tell all our clients to let us review the insurance requirements for all contracts prior to them signing. And I do agree that some agents are just putting their e&o on the line because they are putting the wording on the cert when it''s not available.

dmcdonald,

First of all, adding wording on the certificate DOES NOT change the insurance policy.

Secondly, what is most likely happening is that the wording is being added to certificates and the policy has not been changed or the carrier has not authorized the wording change to the certificate.

Last of all, you can always make a photocopy of the policy and they can review the contract to see if it meets their specifications.

An article on problems with certificates of insurance:

http://www.cavignac.com/pdfs/C-0899.pdf ... 20problems'

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_n9437236

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_n9485971

http://www.uticanational.com/NewEandOsi ... rance2.asp

http://www.roughnotes.com/rnmagazine/20 ... /10p64.htm

Comments from an agent on this issue:

I have been engaged in the insurance and risk management business for over 30 years. There are other reasons to avoid altering standard ACORD certificates of insurance. In New York State, the Superintendent of Insurance has advised all agents and brokers against changing the standard ACORD certificate with any modification. In fact, altering a standard certificate violates department rules. If a certificate is altered it may also represent a modification of the filed insurance policy language and should be filed with the department as an amendment of policy language. Making such changes, or using customized certificates, represents a huge E&O exposure for the agent or broker since the carrier is not bound by the terms put on the certificate by the agent or broker. Also, for the requesting party, it becomes a manuscripted terms issue and may reduce their rights against the carrier when it comes to policy interpretation.

Hope some of this helps....

Good luck with an age old problem in this business that never seems to get solved..... hmmmmmm sounds like job security for us.... uh huh... better raise the E&O limits again this year.

You are all making too big a deal of this. First you need to subscribe to IRMI and look at the annotated CGL. If you have a current ISO form the coverage is built into the policy. Severability of interests is now called Separation of Insureds (Section IV. 7). Here is part of the discussion from the annotated ISO CGL, both of your issues are automatically covered and can be addressed as requested on the certificate.

"Condition 7 causes the policy to cover liability claims brought by one insured against another insured (often referred to as cross-liability claims) unless coverage is precluded by some other provision, such as an exclusion. There is much confusion in the insurance industry regarding the need for so-called cross-liability endorsements, which affirm the applicability of coverage for a suit brought by one insured (such as an additional insured) against another insured (such as the named insured). The severability of interest provision (Condition 7) makes cross-liability endorsements unnecessary with respect to ISO promulgated CGL policies."

E&S Carriers have become very dilligent regarding Certs, refusing to allow any modification that is not reflective of actual terms on the policy. I can't address the Standards' practices, but they're typically less astute.

The age-old practice of Agents simply adding any wording that is requested/demanded is being snuffed out.

The key to your problem is that your policy must first be endorsed to afford the extensions & modification that you want to be able to show on the Cert. Once that is done, if your Carrier won't allow the "information purposes only" nature of the Cert to be utilized, find another Carrier.

If you can't find another Carrier, find a good Wholesaler. If your Wholesaler can't get it done, find a better one.

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