CGL Insurance and Construction Defects in Illinois
Over the past few months I've had the opportunity through the Illinois State Bar Association on two occasions to provide continuing legal education presentations about commercial general liability (CGL) insurance and coverage of defective construction. This can be a tricky area and the law can vary by jurisdiction; the Illinois line of governing cases differs from other States. An insurance policy is essentially a contract between the insurer and the insured, consisting of 1) the declarations, 2) the insuring agreement, 3) conditions, 4) exclusions, and 5) endorsements. In the CGL world, many insurers use a variation of a nationally standardized form. One thing that trips folks up is that some of the endorsements seem to say there should be coverage for certain things (for example, defective work done by a subcontractor) and so the temptation is to put the cart before the horse. In Illinois, you don't even get to the endorsements unless the court first finds there is po