Certificates of Insurance

Certificates of insurance issued by insurance agents or brokers do not confer coverage by themselves according to court case in New Jersey.  As Mound Cotton reports (see here), a decision on the subject was reached relying, in part, on two decisions in New York.  The court concluded that certificates of insurance issued by a broker are not binding insurance contracts.

These cases illustrate that a certificate holder should not rely on a certificate of insurance alone as evidence of insurance coverage.

It appears that coverage questions involving additional insureds arise with some frequency because certificates are sometimes issued noting incorrect additional insureds.

See our prior posts here and here for more discussion on certificates of insurance.

Comments

[Evan]

Is it just me, or does this fall under the title of "things I don't understand about insurance coverage!"