Limits
How much liability insurance do clients actually require?
There is no universal figure, and published requirements show tiers rather than one number. Seattle's own permitting documents, read July 26, 2026, require $1,000,000 per occurrence for a standard event and $2,000,000 where a fire code permit or controlled hazardous activity is involved.
Ask this question anywhere and the answer comes back as one million. It is a real number that appears in a lot of contracts, and it is not a rule. What decides the figure is the party asking, and the same city can ask for different amounts depending on what the work involves.
Below are requirements published by a public client, quoted from the documents that impose them.
What one city actually requires
Standard special event permit
Seattle, Washington
The minimum limit of liability shall be $1,000,000 Combined Single Limit Bodily and Property Damage (CSL) each occurrence
Combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage, each occurrence. The permit is not issued until the city's risk management department approves the insurance.
Endorsement named: ISO CG 20 26 or equivalent, naming the City of Seattle
Fire code permit or controlled hazardous activity
Seattle, Washington
minimum limits are $2,000,000 CSL per occurrence and annual aggregate with no deductible
Applies where liability insurance is required by the fire code or as a condition of a controlled hazardous activity permit, including pyrotechnics. Required both per occurrence and as an annual aggregate, with no deductible.
Endorsement named: ISO CG 20 26 or equivalent, plus CA 20 48 for business auto
The two tiers come from the same office in the same city. What moves the requirement from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 is not the size of the business or the value of the contract: it is what the activity involves. Anyone treating one figure as the industry standard is going to be wrong in one direction or the other.
The number that quietly runs out
Aggregate limit
the maximum dollar amount or total amount of coverage payable for a single loss, or multiple losses, during a policy period, or on a single project
The ceiling for the whole policy period rather than for one claim. It is the number that runs out.
A policy written as one million per occurrence and two million aggregate does not offer one million every time. Two claims of a million each exhaust it, and the third one has nothing behind it.
Excess and umbrella liability
liability coverage of an insured above a specific amount set forth in a basic policy issued by the primary insurer
Coverage that sits above a primary policy and starts where that one stops. It is not a broader policy, it is a taller one.
It generally follows the terms of the policy underneath it, so an exclusion in the primary policy is usually still an exclusion at the higher level.
The gap list
What a limit does not tell you
A limit is not coverage
Carrying the number a contract asks for says nothing about whether a particular loss falls inside the policy. The limit is the ceiling on a claim that is covered in the first place.
The aggregate is the one that runs out
Attention usually goes to the per occurrence figure because it is the larger-sounding one in conversation. The aggregate is what a busy year actually consumes.
Meeting the limit is not meeting the requirement
Public clients commonly require a named endorsement, primary and non-contributory wording, and their own approval of the paperwork. A policy at the right limit can still be rejected on any of those.
Two cities documented, not a national picture
The requirements published here are Seattle's. They are quoted to show that tiers exist and move with activity, not to suggest they apply anywhere else.
Carrying the right number is the easiest half of satisfying a client requirement. The paperwork conditions are where certificates get rejected.
Common questions
How much general liability insurance do I need?
That is set by whoever is asking, not by a rule. What can be documented is what published requirements actually say. Seattle's special event permitting requires a $1,000,000 combined single limit per occurrence for standard events and $2,000,000 per occurrence and annual aggregate where a fire code permit or a controlled hazardous activity is involved. The requirement moves with the activity rather than with the size of the business.
What does per occurrence mean versus aggregate?
Per occurrence is the ceiling for one claim. Aggregate is the ceiling for the whole policy period. The NAIC defines the aggregate limit as the maximum amount payable for a single loss, or multiple losses, during a policy period or on a single project. Two claims that each reach the per occurrence limit can exhaust a policy whose aggregate is twice that number, leaving nothing for a third.
Why do so many contracts say one million?
It is a common figure and it is not a universal one. The Seattle requirements quoted on this page show two different tiers in the same city's own documents, with the higher one triggered by the fire code rather than by anything about the business. Treating one million as the answer everywhere means being under-specified in some places and over-specified in others.
What is an additional insured endorsement and why is a form number named?
Public clients often specify the exact endorsement they want rather than accepting any wording. Seattle names ISO form CG 20 26 or equivalent for general liability and CA 20 48 or equivalent for business auto, and requires the endorsement itself showing the policy number and signed by the insurer. A certificate alone does not satisfy that.
What does primary and non-contributory mean?
It is a requirement that your policy pay first and not ask the client's own insurance to share. Seattle requires it alongside the additional insured endorsement. It is a term about how two policies interact rather than about how much coverage exists.
Does an umbrella policy raise my limits?
It adds height, not width. The NAIC describes excess and umbrella liability as coverage above a specific amount set in the primary policy. It generally follows the terms underneath it, so something excluded by the primary policy is usually still excluded at the higher level.
How this page is sourced
The limit requirements are quoted from the City of Seattle's published special event insurance requirements, and the definitions from the NAIC glossary, both read on July 26, 2026. Other jurisdictions are not documented here yet.
The requirement that applies to you is in the contract or permit condition you were given. We publish general educational content and cannot review anyone's specific situation.
Related: what the certificate proving those limits can and cannot do is on the certificate of insurance, and which clock the policy runs on is on occurrence vs. claims-made.