What does primary and non-contributory mean (CG 20 01)?
It means your policy pays first and does not ask the other party’s insurer to share. "Primary" puts your policy at the front of the queue; "non-contributory" stops your insurer from demanding a contribution from theirs. It is a separate endorsement from additional insured status, and being an additional insured does not create it.
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The detail
ISO form CG 20 01 is the endorsement commonly used to make general liability coverage primary and non-contributory with respect to other insurance available to an additional insured.
ISO CGL endorsement CG 20 01
Waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory status are distinct concepts addressed by different endorsements; one does not imply the other.
What this means for you
- Without it, your insurer can insist the general contractor’s own policy contributes, which is precisely the outcome the general contractor wrote the clause to prevent, and precisely the argument that delays a defense while two insurers negotiate.
- Contracts frequently bundle this into one sentence with additional insured and waiver of subrogation. That is one sentence and three separate endorsements.
- Check it is on the policy and not merely typed onto the certificate. This is one of the requirements most often asserted on paper and least often endorsed.
Related questions
- Am I automatically primary if I am the one who caused the loss?
Not necessarily. How policies share a loss is governed by the "other insurance" clause in each of them, not by who was at fault. Two policies that both call themselves excess over the other produce exactly the stalemate this endorsement exists to prevent.
- Does the general contractor really need this?
From their side it is entirely rational: they want their own loss history left alone by a claim your work caused. From your side the thing to understand is that it puts your limits at the front, which again is an argument for the limit being big enough.
- What is CG 20 01?
CG 20 01 is the ISO general liability endorsement titled Primary And Noncontributory, Other Insurance Condition. It makes your policy primary for an additional insured and stops your insurer seeking contribution from the additional insured’s own policy, but only where a written contract requires it. The 04 13 edition is the one contracts and certificates cite. It sits alongside the additional insured endorsements rather than replacing them, so a contract asking for primary and non-contributory usually needs CG 20 10 or CG 20 37 as well.
- What wording does a contract use to require primary and non-contributory?
The clause usually says that the contractor’s insurance is primary with respect to any insurance carried by the owner or general contractor, and that any insurance the other party carries is excess and non-contributory. Some contracts add that your insurer waives any right to seek contribution from the other party’s insurer. However it is phrased, it is asking for one thing, that your policy pays first and alone, and CG 20 01 is the endorsement that makes that true rather than a line typed onto a certificate.
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Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-08-18. See all guides.