This year, the Florida Legislature promulgated two sections to the Florida Statutes, which require surplus lines and authorized insurers to "provide" an "insured" with a "loss run statement" within 15 calendar days after receipt of a written request for such information. See Fla. Stats. Sections 626.9202(2), 627.444(2). According to the Florida Senate's bill analysis and fiscal impact statements, the legislation is intended to create a "statutory framework regarding when and how insurers are required to provide loss run statements to insureds," with the expectation that same may possibly "help consumers with favorable claim histories to obtain insurance at a lower premium." The sections include pertinent definitions to facilitate their interpretation and application with these goals in mind, including setting forth precise definitions for the statutory terms "provide" and "loss run statement." See Fla. Stats. Sections 626.9202(1)(a)-(b), 627.444(1)(a)-(b) (defining "provide" as "to electronically send a document or to allow access through an electronic portal to view or generate a document" and defining "loss run statement" as "a report that contains the policy number, the period of coverage, the number of claims, the paid losses on all claims, and the date of each loss"). The sections do not, however, define the term "insured."

It is fair enough that, in the ordinary case, there is unlikely to be a dispute about whether or not a person requesting information regarding claims made under an insurance policy qualifies as "an insured" under that policy. Circumstances can certainly arise, however, when it is unclear whether one qualifies as an "insured." Such a situation perhaps most frequently occurs when a person or entity claims that (s)he or it qualifies as what is known as an "additional insured" under an insurance policy. Typically, a "named insured" is the person or entity who pays for the policy's premiums and whose name is listed on the face of the policy's declarations. An "additional insured," on the other hand, is someone else who is sometimes entitled to treatment as an insured under the named insured's policy for certain claims, or in certain circumstances, based upon an endorsement that has been added to the policy. Such endorsements to commercial general liability insurance policies usually impose certain conditions that must be satisfied for an additional insured to qualify as such. For example, some such endorsements state that such and such a person only qualifies as an additional insured for claims alleging that such person is liable because of work performed for him/her/it by the named insured. Others, by way of further example, may state that one's additional insured status exists only if there is a written contract entered into between the named and putative additional insured requiring that the latter be treated as an insured. And still others may qualify one's additional insured status by stating it exists only on an excess basis, over and above such person's other available insurance coverage as an additional insured.