AH, SEPTEMBER! Fall will soon be in the air, and baseball'sannual pennant races are in full swing. Ever wonder what theplayers are talking about when they gather at the pitcher's moundfor a conference right in the middle of a big game?

Let's listen in. All-star first baseman Ted Andrews asks hispitcher, "How's the arm, Mitch?" Mitch replies, "Holding up. Howare things over at first?"

"I got a problem. My brother-in-law Tom, who owns the sportinggoods shop behind left field, told me his landlord is demandingproof that his premises liability coverage includes somethingcalled 'Broad Form PD.' So Tom calls his agent, right? And theagent says there is no such thing. The landlord goes crazy and saysTom is outta there unless he coughs up the Broad Form. I tell ya,it's things like this that keep me in a slump."

"Well, that sure doesn't seem right. Why didn't this come upbefore?"

"Got me, Mitch. And Tom's agent has always been on the ball, soyou'd think he'd know." Third baseman Barry Pounds walks up."What's happening, dudes? And who's the broad that's got you in aslump?"

"Not a broad, you bush-leaguer. Broad Form! It's an insuranceterm of some kind, and Ted's bro-in-law Tom is getting fits over itfrom The Man."

Barry responds, "Dude, I understand. My brother Neil's wipingout trying to catch coverage for something called 'blanketcontractual liability.' His lawyer says the contractor who's doinghis new beach pad has to have it in his paperwork, and thecontractor's insurance dude tells him it's, like, no big deal. Butit's holding up his pad, man, and Neil's bunny days are going outwith the tide."

Catcher Andre Aggravi ambles out. "All right, what's going on?Anybody care to play ball here?"

"Hey, back off, Andre. We're dealing with some heavy stuff here.Ted's bro-in-law is getting ripped off by his landlord over somebroad, and Barry's brother needs a blanket he is supposed toalready have, but doesn't."

"That's broad FORM, Mitch, and blanket contractual!"

Andre replies, "Hold on, you guys telling me this whole meetingis about liability insurance? I know who we need." He turns andsignals to the dugout, and manager Deke Delaney trots out to themound. "All right, what's all this, then?" Delaney asks.

"Liability insurance, skip. These guys got relatives with majorproblems. Judging by the last couple of innings, it's clearlyaffecting their ability to play ball. If you could help out, itwould sure speed things along. With all your experience, you'veprobably handled this kind of stuff before."

"All right, fill me in." As each player puts in his piece of thepie, Deke angrily kicks a chunk of turf nearly into center field."Those dad-blamed lawyers! If they're going to bill those kinds offees, the least they could do is keep up-to-date. Why, thatconsarned Broad Form PD and Blanket Contractual foolishnessdisappeared from the standard liability forms nearly 20 years ago.It was back in the big simplification roll-out during the 1985-86season. Of course, none of you were even out of tee-ball then!Those terms are not only outdated, but the coverage they oncereferred to is now automatically included in the ISO CGL forms." Heturns toward his third-base coach. "Hey, Chico! Front andcenter!"

"Chico knows about insurance, Skip?"

"Nah, baseball been very, very good to him. Chico, let me seethat PDA." "Skip, what are you doing?"

"Logging on to the ISONet site to pull up a copy of the currentISO CGL form. Ah, there we are. See here in the exclusions section?It says the contractual exclusion does not apply to liability fordamages: '(2) Assumed in a contract or agreement that is an"insured contract..."'

"So, Skip, you only insure a contract if it's an insuredcontract? I'm lost!"

"Pace yourself, Andre. Let me page over here to the definitionssection. See, right here is the key section we need for ourpurposes. Part "f" of the definition of "insured contract"reads:

"f. That part of any other contract or agreement pertaining toyour business (including an indemnification of a municipality inconnection with work performed for a municipality) under which youassume the tort liability of another party to pay for 'bodilyinjury' or 'property damage' to a third person or organization.Tort liability means a liability that would be imposed by law inthe absence of any contract or agreement."

Then Deke explains the importance of exclusions J.5 and J.6,which say the liability form won't apply to any property damagearising out of:

"(5) That particular part of real property on which you or anycontractors or subcontractors working directly or indirectly onyour behalf are performing operations, if the 'property damage'arises out of those operations; or (6) That particular part of anyproperty that must be restored, repaired or replaced because 'yourwork' was incorrectly performed on it."

Deke continues: "This is one of those Broad Form PD deals, huh?Don't you hate it when those legal eagles are so out-of-date theydon't even know they're asking for obsolete provisions? Next thing,they'll require an OL&T or M&C, as if they'd have a cluewhat those letters stood for.

"All this makes me feel old. Why, I remember when the 'C' in CGLstood for 'comprehensive.' Yep, issue a good old CGL and throw inthat broad form CGL endorsement and you were really cooking withgas." The umpire wanders out to the mound to tell the gang to breakit up.

"Let me make this quick, guys. Paragraph "f" in the contractualexclusion represents what used to be called "blanket contractual."It isn't a complete blanket, since it's still limited to tortliability, not just anything the contract writer might have dreamedup. Insurance can't cover everything, you know. But if you ask thatattorney giving Barry's brother advice what he really wants toaccomplish with that "blanket contractual" demand, there's a darngood chance that paragraph "f" will do it, since it provides justabout what the old "blanket" provision in the broad form CGLendorsement did. And the exclusions narrow the property damageexclusion down to basically the same coverage created by the oldBroad Form PD provision. That should get Ted's bro-in-law off thehook."

"So the current CGL form already includes the coverage theselawyer-types are asking for when they use those old terms?

"Right. It's always best to check with whomever is asking forthose liability-insurance provisions to find out exactly what theyare looking for, though. And once you find what they arerequesting, if you have any doubts whether the policy provisions wediscussed do the job, check with your company underwriters for anopinion and other possible endorsements or coverages that may beavailable to fill the bill. Now let's get back to baseball!"