Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151 Anti-Indemnity Audit: Enforcing CG 20 10 & CG 20 37 Carve-Outs
Under the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act (Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151, §§ 151.102–151.104), any provision in a construction contract—and any Additional Insured endorsement—that requires a subcontractor to indemnify or insure an upstream GC or Owner for the upstream party’s own negligence is void and unenforceable as against public policy, WITH TWO CRITICAL STATUTORY EXCEPTIONS: (1) bodily injury or death of an employee of the indemnitor/subcontractor (§ 151.103), and (2) municipal or public works projects (§ 151.105). If a Texas GL binder attaches an overbroad Texas Anti-Indemnity limitation endorsement that fails to preserve the § 151.103 Employee Bodily Injury exception, or omits ISO CG 20 10 / CG 20 37 comparative-fault wording, defense tenders are routinely denied.
General Contractor Left With $320,000 Uninsured Water Defect Claim Due to Missing CG 20 37 & CG 22 94 Exclusion
A GC collected a subcontractor COI showing "Additional Insured: Yes," but the actual binder only attached ISO CG 20 10 (Ongoing Operations)—omitting ISO CG 20 37 (Completed Operations)—and the GC’s own GL policy contained ISO CG 22 94 deleting the Subcontractor Exception.
EndorseIQ™ mandates both ISO CG 20 10/20 38 and CG 20 37 (Completed Operations), strikes ISO CG 22 94 and CG 21 39, and enforces Primary & Noncontributory (CG 20 01) vertical exhaustion.
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“TEXAS INSURANCE CODE CHAPTER 151 COMPLIANT ADDITIONAL INSURED & EMPLOYEE INJURY CARVE-OUT: Additional Insured coverage under ISO Forms CG 20 10, CG 20 37, and CG 20 38 shall apply to the fullest extent permitted by Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151, explicitly preserving full primary and noncontributory defense and indemnity for: (a) bodily injury or death
What to Say to the GL Carrier & Upstream GC / Owner Requirements
"While Texas Insurance Code § 151.102 restricts broad-form indemnity, § 151.103 explicitly permits full indemnity and Additional Insured coverage for bodily injury to an employee of the subcontractor. We need the Texas Additional Insured endorsement to preserve the full § 151.103 employee-injury carve-out alongside ISO CG 20 10 and CG 20 37."
Why they drafted it this way: Texas GL carriers draft overly restrictive state-amendatory endorsements that go beyond Chapter 151’s statutory ban—stripping away even the lawful § 151.103 employee-injury over-action exception.
Mandatory Audit Checklist Points
- Preserve the Texas Insurance Code § 151.103 Employee Bodily Injury exception on all Additional Insured forms
- Attach ISO CG 20 10 (Ongoing Operations) and ISO CG 20 37 (Completed Operations) with "caused in whole or in part" wording
- Verify Texas Workers’ Compensation Waiver of Subrogation (Form WC 42 03 04) is attached prior to loss
- Check Texas Supreme Court "Eight-Corners Rule" defense-duty triggers across Primary GL and Umbrella layers
Paste Your Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151 anti-indemnity additional insured audit Section or Upload Your Full Construction GL & Subcontractor (.pdf / .docx)
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EndorseIQ™ Policy & Binder Scanner
ACTIVE ENGINE: ENDORSEIQ™ (MULTI-HOP ISO & COVERAGE GRAPH)Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Texas Anti-Indemnity Act (Insurance Code Chapter 151) void Additional Insured endorsements?
Yes, under Texas Insurance Code § 151.104, an Additional Insured endorsement is void to the extent it requires coverage for the Additional Insured’s own negligence—EXCEPT for claims involving bodily injury or death of an employee of the subcontractor, its agent, or another subcontractor under § 151.103.
Why must Texas subcontractors attach Form WC 42 03 04 rather than standard WC 00 03 13?
Texas has its own promulgated Workers’ Compensation Waiver of Subrogation endorsement—Form WC 42 03 04 ("Texas Waiver of Our Right to Recover from Others Endorsement")—which must be executed prior to the injury to waive subrogation against upstream GCs and Owners.
How do I redline Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151 anti-indemnity additional insured audit traps in my Construction GL & Subcontractor anonymously without creating an account?
Upload your Construction GL & Subcontractor PDF or Word (.docx) draft to ExclusionRadar.com to run the "Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151 Anti-Indemnity Audit: Enforcing CG 20 10 & CG 20 37 Carve-Outs" defense cartridge 100% anonymously—with zero account registration, zero email login, and stateless in-memory processing. EndorseIQ™ flags Texas Insurance Code Chapter 151 anti-indemnity additional insured audit exposure (typically $110,000 – $750,000+ in voided Texas Additional Insured defense; documented unredlined loss: $320,000 denied Completed Operations & subcontractor defect claim), checks for cross-section overrides, and exports a ready-to-send Microsoft Word (.docx) Track-Changes file.
More Construction GL & Subcontractor Redline Playbooks
View All Construction GL & Subcontractor PlaybooksISO CG 21 39 Contractual Liability Limitation: Why It Voids Hold-Harmless Indemnity & How to Strike It
In a standard ISO CG 00 01 Commercial General Liability policy, Exclusion b. ("Contractual Liability") excludes liability assumed in a contract, EXCEPT for liability assumed in an "Insured Contract." Under Section V, Definition 9 ("Insured Contract"), paragraphs L. through E. cover leases, sidetrack agreements, and elevator maintenance, while Paragraph f. is the crucial catch-all covering every construction subcontract, vendor MSA, and hold-harmless indemnity agreement. ISO Endorsement CG 21 39 ("Contractual Liability Limitation") deletes Paragraph f. completely—meaning the moment you sign a subcontract or client MSA agreeing to indemnify your client for third-party bodily injury or property damage, you have zero insurance backing that promise.
ISO CG 20 01 Primary & Noncontributory + CG 24 04 Waiver of Subrogation: Preventing Horizontal Exhaustion
When a serious $2,500,000 claim occurs on a project where a subcontractor or vendor carries $1,000,000 Primary GL and $5,000,000 Excess/Umbrella, upstream GCs and Owners expect the subcontractor’s $1M Primary and $5M Umbrella to pay the full $2.5M ("Vertical Exhaustion"). However, if ISO CG 20 01 ("Primary and Noncontributory — Other Insurance Condition") is missing, or if the subcontractor’s Umbrella policy contains a standard "Excess Over All Other Valid and Collectible Insurance" clause, courts enforce "Horizontal Exhaustion"—forcing the upstream GC’s and Owner’s own primary GL policies to pay before the subcontractor’s Umbrella contributes a dollar.
ISO CG 25 03 Designated Construction Project Aggregate Audit: Preventing Off-Site Limit Erosion
Without ISO Endorsement CG 25 03 ("Designated Construction Project(s) General Aggregate Limit"), a contractor’s $2,000,000 General Aggregate Limit is shared across EVERY jobsite the contractor worked on during the entire year. If a subcontractor you hired suffers a $1.8M claim on an unrelated job across town in March, only $200,000 of aggregate coverage remains for your project in July! Furthermore, even when carriers attach CG 25 03, they often layer a manuscript "$5,000,000 Policy-Wide Aggregate Cap" on top.
Multi-Family, Condominium & Tract Housing Exclusion Audit: Catching Mixed-Use GL Coverage Traps
Nearly every non-admitted construction GL policy contains a manuscript "Residential / Habitational / Condominium / Tract Housing Exclusion." While contractors working on ground-floor retail storefronts, commercial offices, or apartment renovations assume this exclusion only applies to single-family homebuilders, carriers draft these endorsements to exclude ANY work on a structure that contains—or is ever converted into—residential apartments, condominiums, townhomes, student housing, or mixed-use retail/residential buildings!