Materials, Parts, or Equipment in “Your Work”

February 6, 2012

We are in receipt of a claim where our insured installed wallpaper at a third party claimant's home. After the insured completed the installation, the wallpaper started to shrink and peel. The third party home owner provided the wallpaper for the job. A claim has been presented for new wallpaper and reinstallation of wall paper. Under the Commercial General Liability Coverage form, exclusion l. Damage To Your Work applies to the reinstallation of the wallpaper in our opinion.

I have a question regarding the “your work” definition, specifically a.(2) which says: Materials, parts or equipment furnished in connection with such work or operations. Does this definition speak to materials, parts or equipment furnished by our insured? Or, would materials furnished by a third party claimant also be considered as part of this definition?

We have talked about this particular issue many times in our roundtable meetings, so I am trying to get clarity on this issue.

Connecticut Subscriber

The wording in the definition is broad enough to include materials, parts, or equipment furnished by the insured or anyone. The purpose of the your work exclusion is to make sure that the CGL form is not used as a warranty for the insured's work and to restrict the materials, parts, or equipment only to items furnished by the insured would carve a huge exception into the exclusion and make it practically useless.