What is a CG 20 26 endorsement?

The practical answer

CG 20 26 is the ISO form titled Additional Insured: Designated Person or Organization. It adds the party named in its schedule as an additional insured on a commercial general liability policy, without tying the grant to a construction relationship.

That is what makes it different from the forms most contracts name. CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 are written for owners, lessees and contractors and are anchored to work performed for that party. CG 20 26 is anchored to the named insured's acts or omissions generally.

What the form grants

The endorsement makes the scheduled person or organization an additional insured for liability caused, in whole or in part, by the acts or omissions of the named insured or those acting on the named insured's behalf, in the performance of the named insured's ongoing operations.

Because it is not limited to work performed for the additional insured, it can reach situations the contractor forms do not: a party with an interest in the operation who is not the owner, a client whose relationship with the insured is not a construction contract, a franchisor, a manager, a scheduling entity.

CG 20 26 next to CG 20 10 and CG 20 37

The completed operations gap is the one people miss. Accepting a CG 20 26 in place of a required CG 20 10 plus CG 20 37 leaves the same hole: covered while the work is in progress, unprotected once it is finished.

• CG 20 10: additional insured for owners, lessees or contractors, ongoing operations only, tied to work performed for that party.
• CG 20 37: the same relationship, completed operations. The form that answers a claim after the job is finished.
• CG 20 26: designated person or organization, ongoing operations, not tied to the contractor relationship. Broader in who it can cover, and like CG 20 10 it stops at completed operations.
• CG 20 33 and CG 20 38: blanket versions for the contractor relationship, granting status automatically where a written contract requires it.

Why it sometimes shows up instead of the contractor form

Two reasons, and they pull in opposite directions. Sometimes the relationship genuinely is not owner, lessee or contractor, and CG 20 26 is the correct form. Sometimes a producer issues it because it is the general purpose additional insured form in their system and the specific one requires more setup.

The way to tell them apart is to read the contract. If the requirement names CG 20 10 and CG 20 37 and the certificate arrives with a CG 20 26, that is a substitution to raise, not a technicality to wave through.

Verifying CG 20 26

• Collect the endorsement pages. The ADDL INSD column on the ACORD 25 does not name a form.
• Read the schedule. This is a scheduled form, so your exact legal entity has to be in it. A parent company, a trading name or a property name will not do.
• Note the edition date. The 07 04 and later editions narrow the trigger to damage caused in whole or in part by the named insured, so the additional insured's sole negligence is outside the grant. The 04 13 edition also caps coverage at what the written contract requires and at what the jurisdiction allows.
• Match the policy number and effective dates to the certificate face.
• Ask separately about completed operations and about primary and non-contributory wording. Neither comes with this form.