John works for J & J Plumbing.

In CPCU 500, choosing the correct liability coverage depends on identifying thesource of liabilityand thetriggering exposure. Here, the loss arises from the ownership, maintenance, or use of anauto—John was operating a company truck on public roads and caused an accident that injured a third party and damaged the third party’s vehicle. Those are classic third-party bodily injury and property damage claims resulting from auto operations.

Commercial auto liability insuranceis specifically designed to respond to these exposures. It covers the insured business for sums it is legally obligated to pay because ofbodily injuryandproperty damagecaused by an accident resulting from the use of a covered auto. In this scenario, the other driver’s medical expenses relate to bodily injury, and the totaled vehicle is property damage—both fit squarely within commercial auto liability.

The other options do not apply.Commercial general liabilitytypically excludes bodily injury and property damage arising out of the ownership or use of an auto, because that exposure is intended to be handled by the auto policy.Workers compensationcovers job-related injuries to employees (John’s minor injury), not injuries to third parties.Employers liabilityis the workers compensation “gap” coverage for certain employee injury lawsuits, again focused on employee claims rather than third-party auto losses. Therefore, the correct coverage for the other driver’s injury and vehicle damage is commercial auto liability.