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

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

"I got a problem. My brother-in-law Tom, who owns the sporting goods shop behind left field, told me his landlord is demanding proof that his premises liability coverage includes something called 'Broad Form PD.' So Tom calls his agent, right? And the agent says there is no such thing. The landlord goes crazy and says Tom 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 up before?"

"Got me, Mitch. And Tom's agent has always been on the ball, so you'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 a slump?"

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

Barry responds, "Dude, I understand. My brother Neil's wiping out trying to catch coverage for something called 'blanket contractual liability.' His lawyer says the contractor who's doing his new beach pad has to have it in his paperwork, and the contractor's insurance dude tells him it's, like, no big deal. But it's holding up his pad, man, and Neil's bunny days are going out with 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 some broad, and Barry's brother needs a blanket he is supposed to already have, but doesn't."

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

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

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

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

"Chico knows about insurance, Skip?"

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

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

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

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

"f. That part of any other contract or agreement pertaining to your business (including an indemnification of a municipality in connection with work performed for a municipality) under which you assume the tort liability of another party to pay for 'bodily injury' or 'property damage' to a third person or organization. Tort liability means a liability that would be imposed by law in the 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 damage arising out of:

"(5) That particular part of real property on which you or any contractors or subcontractors working directly or indirectly on your behalf are performing operations, if the 'property damage' arises out of those operations; or (6) That particular part of any property that must be restored, repaired or replaced because 'your work' 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 they don'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 clue what those letters stood for.

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

"Let me make this quick, guys. Paragraph "f" in the contractual exclusion represents what used to be called "blanket contractual." It isn't a complete blanket, since it's still limited to tort liability, not just anything the contract writer might have dreamed up. Insurance can't cover everything, you know. But if you ask that attorney giving Barry's brother advice what he really wants to accomplish with that "blanket contractual" demand, there's a darn good chance that paragraph "f" will do it, since it provides just about what the old "blanket" provision in the broad form CGL endorsement did. And the exclusions narrow the property damage exclusion down to basically the same coverage created by the old Broad Form PD provision. That should get Ted's bro-in-law off the hook."

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

"Right. It's always best to check with whomever is asking for those liability-insurance provisions to find out exactly what they are looking for, though. And once you find what they are requesting, if you have any doubts whether the policy provisions we discussed do the job, check with your company underwriters for an opinion and other possible endorsements or coverages that may be available to fill the bill. Now let's get back to baseball!"

Special Reports /

Policy Issues: The names in the game sometimes can be arcane

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