Subrogation is an insurer's right to recover what it paid on a claim from whoever caused the loss. A waiver of subrogation is the insurer giving up that right against a specific party — usually because a contract required it. When a renewal quietly drops the waiver, the insured can fall out of compliance with a contract they signed and never know until the recovery action lands.
This covers the FACTS of the relevant endorsements for renewal-checking, without reproducing any copyrighted form wording.
How a waiver is granted
The waiver lives in an endorsement, not the declarations. On general liability it's commonly the CG 24 04; on workers' compensation it's a waiver-of-our-right-to-recover endorsement (with state-specific variants). A waiver can be blanket (applies wherever a written contract requires it) or scheduled (names specific parties — the schedule has to include the right ones).
Why contracts require it
Commercial contracts push each party's losses onto that party's own insurance; waivers keep the insurers from unwinding that arrangement through recovery actions. Construction contracts, leases and service agreements routinely require waivers on GL and workers' comp — which means the waiver's presence is a contract-compliance question, not just a coverage nicety.
Checking the waiver at renewal
The renewal check on waivers:
- The waiver endorsement present this term if it was present last term — a dropped CG 24 04 or WC waiver is a contract-compliance gap.
- Blanket vs. scheduled identified; if scheduled, the required parties still on the schedule.
- Edition date and applicability compared against prior.
- Any carrier-specific waiver wording flagged for human review.