Event liability addresses covered injury or damage, while cancellation addresses specified financial loss from cancellation or postponement.
Casualty and Excess
Event and Entertainment Liability.
An event is a temporary business with a deadline, a crowd, and no room to discover missing coverage after the gates open.
Event and entertainment insurance may combine or coordinate liability, cancellation, rented property, equipment, liquor, participant, auto, accident, weather, and other specialized coverages. Event type, attendance, venue, duration, structures, performers, vendors, security, alcohol, contracts, and financial commitments determine what is needed.
Placement context
Facts to confirm before applying.
The event schedule is the submission. We need to see what happens, where, when, for how many people, under whose contract, with what equipment, performers, alcohol, vendors, and security. A certificate request from the venue tells us almost nothing about the event itself.
Coverage scope
What the coverage may address.
Rented property, equipment, pyrotechnics, animals, inflatables, performers, participants, and weather can require separate forms.
Venue, promoter, producer, vendor, performer, and sponsor contracts allocate different responsibilities and insured interests.
Placement factors
Facts that affect placement.
- Large attendance, multi-day schedules, touring operations, or unusual venues
- Alcohol, security, pyrotechnics, temporary structures, animals, rides, stunts, or participant activity
- Significant nonrefundable expense, weather sensitivity, or cancellation needs
- Complex contracts among promoters, venues, sponsors, vendors, performers, and municipalities
Coverage and access are separate questions
Coverage guidance does not confirm a current market route, quote, policy terms, or bind authority for a particular account.
Submission preparation
Prepare a consistent underwriting file.
Account narrative
Walk through the event from setup to teardown, identify every party and activity, quantify the crowd and financial commitment, and separate liability needs from cancellation and property needs.
Include these facts
- Event schedule with dates, venues, attendance, hours, activities, and participants
- Contracts for the venue, promoter, vendors, performers, security, and suppliers
- Alcohol, crowd control, emergency, weather, medical, and security plans
- Revenue, committed expenses, property values, losses, and requested coverages
Resolve these questions before market review
- What can injure a guest, participant, worker, or bystander?
- Who controls the crowd, alcohol, structures, equipment, and emergency response?
- What money is irrecoverable if the event is cancelled, moved, or delayed?
- Which contract requires coverage, additional insured status, waiver, or a specific limit?
Submission errors
Avoid these three issues.
- Sending only the venue certificate requirements
- Leaving vendors, performers, alcohol, or temporary structures off the schedule
- Treating event liability and event cancellation as the same coverage
Hedge resources
Forms and class guidance for this coverage.
Hedge-owned form
Hedge Special Events Supplemental
A fillable Hedge supplemental for one-time and recurring special events.
Read and downloadHedge-owned form
Hedge Liquor Liability Supplemental
A fillable Hedge supplemental for liquor liability exposures.
Read and downloadHedge-owned form
Hedge Loss and Claims Supplement
A fillable Hedge supplement for organizing prior losses, claims, and open-claim detail for wholesale review.
Read and downloadClass appetite
Event production & rentals
Read the public, directional class guidance and prepare for account-specific review.
Review class guidanceClass appetite
Bars & nightclubs
Read the public, directional class guidance and prepare for account-specific review.
Review class guidanceClass appetite
Churches & religious institutions
Read the public, directional class guidance and prepare for account-specific review.
Review class guidanceRelated coverage
Review related exposures.
Casualty and Excess
Commercial General Liability
The class code gets the file opened. The operations narrative gets it quoted.
Open coverageCasualty and Excess
Liquor Liability
Alcohol sales are only the first number. Hours, service model, security, and incident control tell the rest of the risk.
Open coverageCasualty and Excess
Active Assailant and Workplace Violence
The response plan and the policy trigger have to meet in the same real-world event.
Open coverageHedge review
Send the account for review.
You do not need a perfect packet to start. Send the account, requested line, effective date, current applications, available loss information, and the fact making the placement difficult. Hedge will separate missing information from market-ready information before any account-specific route is confirmed.