Commercial Umbrella sits above your underlying CGL, HNOA, and EPLI policies and only attaches once those limits are exhausted — letting startups demonstrate $5M-$10M+ total liability for enterprise contracts and big landlords without re-underwriting every primary policy.
Last reviewed April 24, 2026 · Reviewed by the Corgi Insurance team
Umbrella is the policy that turns a $1M primary CGL into a $5M tower in a single endorsement. It's how startups satisfy enterprise contracts and Class A leases without re-underwriting every primary policy — and the cleanest way to grow your liability stack as the company scales.
Pulled from the actual form
Commercial Umbrella
What this policy pays for.
A slip-and-fall at your office leads to a $1.8M settlement that pierces your CGL limit.1
Once the underlying CGL bodily-injury limit is exhausted by judgments or settlements, the umbrella drops down and pays the remaining covered loss up to its own per-occurrence limit.
An EPLI suit settles for $1.2M against a $1M EPLI limit.2
When the scheduled underlying EPLI policy's per-claim limit is exhausted, the umbrella responds on a follow-form basis to pay the remaining covered loss, including defense if defense is within underlying limits.
A rideshare crash injures multiple parties; HNOA limit is exhausted.
After the underlying Hired & Non-Owned Auto liability limit is exhausted by a multi-party bodily injury or property damage loss, the umbrella pays remaining covered amounts up to the per-occurrence limit.
A combined CGL + advertising-injury verdict tops $2M aggregate.3
When a series of covered occurrences erodes the underlying CGL aggregate during a policy year, the umbrella's own aggregate continues to respond above the exhausted underlying aggregate.
An enterprise customer requires you to demonstrate $5M total liability for a Fortune 500 contract.
Stacking $4M of umbrella over $1M of CGL produces a $5M total liability tower that satisfies enterprise vendor-onboarding requirements without re-underwriting the primary CGL policy.
A landlord requires $5M umbrella coverage for a Class A office lease.
Class A landlords typically require evidence of umbrella or excess liability with named-additional-insured status. The umbrella COI satisfies the lease and protects the additional insured on a follow-form basis.
Umbrella coverage is occurrence-based: the date of the accident or injury determines coverage, not the date the claim is reported. Underlying CGL must be in force on the occurrence date.
EPLI is typically claims-made; the umbrella follows form and only responds to claims first made and reported during the underlying EPLI policy period (or extended reporting period).
The umbrella's own aggregate refreshes only at policy renewal. Once exhausted in a given policy year, additional excess capacity must be purchased from a higher-attaching layer.
Umbrella, CGL, and Excess Liability each play a different role in a startup's liability tower. Most growth-stage companies end up with all three.
Extra liability protection that sits above your scheduled underlying policies — CGL, HNOA, and EPLI — and only attaches once the underlying limits are exhausted. The umbrella is a single tower that gives startups a $5M-$10M+ total liability stack to satisfy enterprise contracts, big-tenant leases, and high-value events without re-underwriting every primary policy.
The primary, ground-up policy that responds first to bodily injury, property damage, and personal & advertising injury claims. Standard CGL limits are $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate. The umbrella sits directly above CGL and only responds once the CGL aggregate or per-occurrence limit is exhausted.
Excess liability is a follow-form layer that mirrors the terms of a single underlying policy and provides additional capacity at a specific attachment point. Umbrella is broader: it can sit above multiple underlying lines (CGL, HNOA, EPLI) at once and may drop down to fill gaps where the underlying policy is unavailable. Most startups carry umbrella first, then layer excess on top once they outgrow $10M.
Fortune 500 vendor-onboarding portals routinely require $5M total liability — a level you cannot reach with a primary CGL alone. Umbrella sits above the primary policies and produces a single tower that satisfies procurement requirements without re-underwriting CGL or HNOA. The COI lists the umbrella alongside the underlying schedule.
Class A office leases, retail spaces, and event venues frequently mandate $2M-$5M umbrella coverage with the landlord named as additional insured on a primary-and-non-contributory basis. The umbrella endorsement extends additional-insured status to match the underlying CGL endorsements on a follow-form basis.
Umbrella is most commonly purchased by startups hosting customer events, signing major leases, deploying field engineers in customer environments, operating delivery fleets via HNOA, or onboarding to enterprise procurement. It scales smoothly from a $1M starter layer at seed up to $25M+ towers at growth stage.
Bodily injury, property damage, and personal & advertising injury losses that exhaust the underlying CGL per-occurrence or aggregate limit drop into the umbrella on a follow-form basis.
Excess limits over the scheduled underlying Hired & Non-Owned Auto liability — multi-party rideshare or fleet incidents typically exhaust HNOA and trigger the umbrella.
Wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination claims that settle or verdict above the scheduled underlying EPLI per-claim limit drop into the umbrella, subject to follow-form terms.
Defamation, libel, slander, and copyright-in-advertising claims above the underlying CGL Personal & Advertising Injury sublimit are picked up by the umbrella where covered by the underlying.
Bodily injury or property damage from a product or completed work that exhausts the underlying CGL Products-Completed Operations aggregate triggers umbrella response on the same basis.
When a series of covered occurrences erodes the underlying CGL aggregate during a policy year, the umbrella's own aggregate continues to respond above the exhausted underlying aggregate.
Umbrella sits above your primary policies. Layer in CGL, HNOA, EPLI, Tech E&O, Cyber, and more — modular coverage that grows with you.
Protects your business against third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, and personal or advertising injury arising from your operations.
Protects against losses and claims resulting from data breaches, cyberattacks, and network security failures.
Covers claims alleging your technology products or services failed to perform as intended, causing financial harm to a client.
Covers claims made against company leaders for alleged wrongful acts in managing the business.
Protects against claims alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, or other employment-related issues.
Protects your company and plan fiduciaries against claims alleging mismanagement of employee benefit plans, including retirement and health plans.
Protects against claims arising from your published or distributed content, including allegations of defamation, copyright infringement, or invasion of privacy.
Provides liability coverage when employees use rented or personal vehicles for company business.
Go deeper on Umbrella and the rest of the startup insurance stack.
Key terms that appear in policy language, lease addenda, and vendor-onboarding portals.
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