Last week, I outlined the basic insurance coverage for trucks/bus liability insurance limits. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires specific limits of insurance coverage. Included in that coverage, and attached to every commercial insurance policy, is an MCS-90 Endorsement. The statutes and regulations require that certain motor carriers maintain liability insurance with certain minimum limits and that such insurance policies contain the MCS-90 Endorsement.
The effect of that endorsement is to negate the limiting provisions found elsewhere in the policy, and to make the insurer liable for the damages resulting from the accident. This endorsement supersedes the limiting language found elsewhere in an insurance policy which would otherwise limit the coverage available. Court decisions indicate the policy embodied in the statutes and regulations was to assure that injured members of the public would be able to obtain judgments collectable against negligent, authorized carriers. The purpose of the MCS-90 Endorsement assures to members of the public…that a certified carrier has independent financial responsibility within the dollar limits prescribed, to pay for losses created by its carrier’s operations. It reads out of the insurance policy exclusion clauses as against injured members of the public. The MCS-90 endorsement acts as a surety for any injury to the public caused by the motor carrier even though no coverage may exist under the policy issued by the insurer.
