ADDITIONAL INSURED STATUS IS LIMITED BY RHODE ISLAND SUPREME COURT

In Bacon Construction Co., Inc. v. Arbella Protection Insurance Company, Inc., 208 A.3d 595 (R.I. 2019), the Rhode Island Supreme Court enforced the terms of an endorsement which limited additional insured status to liability events that were caused partially by the acts or omissions of the named insured or those acting on behalf of the named insured. In this case, a subcontractor’s liability policy contained an endorsement which listed the construction project’s general contractor as an additional insured, but only with respect to liability for injury or damage caused partially by the acts or omissions of the named insured. The underlying case involved an employee’s lawsuit against the general contractor only for negligence. Because the underlying complaint only alleged the general contractor’s negligence, the Court enforced the limiting language of the additional insured endorsement when finding that the general contractor was not an additional insured because the named insured’s liability was not involved at least partially in the underlying tort case.