Business Umbrella Insurance - LRA Insurance Company Orlando, Florida

Umbrella Coverage from LRA Insurance
This policy provides protection against catastrophic liability claims. The policy acts as an excess coverage over your primary liability policies. Its limits apply in addition to that provided by the underlying coverage.

An umbrella serves two purposes. First, it provides excess liability limit over the scheduled underlying policies. Second, it fills some gaps in the underlying coverage. There is no standard umbrella policy. Therefore, coverage comparison is a must. Key areas of comparison are exclusions, deductible, whether a follow-form is offered over unusual underlying exposures, limits, and defense cost (in or out of the limits).

Associations should carry either an umbrella or an excess liability policy because of the potential for catastrophic loss due to the number of persons in the establishments who could be damaged.

Umbrella Policy
This form provides a higher limit of coverage that is excess over scheduled underlying policies. It is used in one of three ways: (1) to provide additional limits of protection over the coverage listed in your underlying schedule, (2) to act as primary coverage if your underlying limits are exhausted, and (3) to provide coverage for some risks, subject to a retention, when your primary coverage does not.

Excess Policy
This form provides higher limits of coverage for only those hazards covered by your primary policies. No coverage exists if it is not included in your underlying schedule. This policy merely extends the limits.

Occurrence Form
This form provides coverage for claims arising out of an accident which results in bodily injury or property damage neither expected nor intended. The form covers such claims that occur during the policy period regardless of when the claim is made against you.

Drop Down Coverage
This provision states that your Umbrella policy will drop down and replace underlying primary liability insurance should these limits be exhausted or reduced.

Concurrent General Liability and Umbrella Forms
Currently, Liability forms can be written on either Claims-Made or Occurrence forms. It is important to make sure that your Excess policy be of the same nature as the underlying forms. Crossing over, such as providing a Claims-Made Umbrella over an Occurrence underlying policy, can cause serious coverage gaps and should be avoided.