Importing the Duty to Procure Insurance

COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY – DUTY TO PROCURE INSURANCE – ADDITIONAL INSURED
Larry E. Knight, Inc. v. QBE Ins. Corp.
(1st Dept., decided 3/17/2009)

In this decision, the First Department reminds that the duty to indemnify is distinct from, and does not inherently contain, a duty to insure, and when a subcontract contains no obligation on the part of the subcontractor to procure insurance for the general contractor, the general contractor cannot be deemed an additional insured under the additional-insured endorsement of the subcontractor's commercial general liability policy.  "Plaintiffs' argument that the indemnity provision in the Knight-JEM subcontract imports with it a duty to insure fails[.]"