There's an old joke that applies to our business: “If you fall off a 40-story building, 35 stories down everything's fine!” Those of us who spend our lives protecting others from risk know the truth behind the absurdity, but too often take things at face value instead of closely examining before we reach 40 stories down. The concept of being an additional insured (AI) is a prime example.

One of the most common situations many agents encounter involves the landlord-tenant relationship. A request to add a landlord as an AI on a tenant's liability policy (a provision in msot leases) is met with the issuance of an endorsement: the latest edition of CG 20 11, “Additional Insured–Managers or Lessors of Premises.” A certificate of insurance is then provided to the landlord as evidence of coverage.

If your client is the landlord, how secure is he? To what extent can he rely on this coverage assuming he has no other? A previous article in this magazine, “Getting a Leash on Leases” (AA&B August 2008) outlines a few of the problems: