Additional insured
A person or organization added to another party's liability policy as an insured. The status must come from the policy or an endorsement; naming a party on a certificate alone does not create it.
An additional insured is not automatically covered merely because it does business with the policyholder. The named insured asks its insurer to add the other party, usually under an endorsement or an applicable blanket endorsement triggered by a written contract. The policy and endorsement set the scope; the contract may require more than the policy provides.
New York’s Department of Financial Services describes an additional insured as a person or entity added to the policy as an insured at the request of the policy purchaser. The department also says a certificate may not name an entity as an additional insured unless the policy actually includes it.
For a liability buyer, the practical question is not “is their name on the certificate?” It is: which endorsement applies, to which operations, and does it include the completed work the contract identifies? A certificate is evidence; the policy is the coverage instrument.
Read the related certificate question and the sister library’s explanation of additional insured versus certificate holder.
Sources
- Primary source: New York Department of Financial Services — Certificate of insurance opinion — State insurance-department opinion explaining that additional insured status is created by the policy and cannot be added only by certificate.