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📋 '''Primary and noncontributory''' is a provision in a [[Definition:Commercial general liability (CGL) | commercial general liability]] or other [[Definition:Liability insurance | liability insurance]] policy that requires the insurer's coverage to respond first to a covered [[Definition:Claim | claim]] and to do so without seeking [[Definition:Contribution | contribution]] from another party's insurance. The clause most commonly appears in contracts between businesses — construction agreements, vendor contracts, and lease arrangements — where one party demands that the other's [[Definition:Policy | policy]] sit in the primary position so that the demanding party's own coverage remains untouched unless the primary limits are exhausted.

🔧 In practice, a subcontractor's CGL policy endorsed as primary and noncontributory with respect to a general contractor means that if a [[Definition:Bodily injury | bodily injury]] or [[Definition:Property damage | property damage]] claim arises from the subcontractor's work, the subcontractor's insurer pays first. Crucially, it also waives the right to invoke [[Definition:Other insurance clause | other insurance clauses]] that would ordinarily force the general contractor's carrier to share the loss on a pro-rata or excess basis. The endorsement is typically paired with an [[Definition:Additional insured | additional insured]] endorsement, since the party being protected needs to be a named interest on the responding policy for the arrangement to function. [[Definition:Underwriter | Underwriters]] evaluate these requests carefully because granting primary and noncontributory status increases the likelihood and size of payouts from the endorsing insurer's perspective.

⚠️ Failure to secure this language — or to attach the correct endorsement — is one of the most common gaps discovered during [[Definition:Certificate of insurance | certificate of insurance]] reviews and post-loss coverage litigation. When the endorsement is missing, insurers on both sides may dispute payment priority, delaying [[Definition:Claims settlement | claims settlement]] and exposing the upstream party to unexpected out-of-pocket costs. For [[Definition:Risk manager | risk managers]] and [[Definition:Insurance broker | brokers]], verifying that primary and noncontributory wording is properly endorsed rather than merely referenced in a contract is an essential part of the [[Definition:Contract review | contract review]] process, protecting clients from coverage gaps that surface at the worst possible time.

'''Related concepts:'''
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Definition:Additional insured]]
* [[Definition:Other insurance clause]]
* [[Definition:Commercial general liability (CGL)]]
* [[Definition:Certificate of insurance]]
* [[Definition:Waiver of subrogation]]
* [[Definition:Contractual liability]]
{{Div col end}}

Definition:Primary and noncontributory - Revision history

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