By Matthew Jacobs and Sati Harutyunyan ( November 9, 2017, 2:03 PM EST) -- A federal court in Illinois ruled in favor of coverage for a general contractor that had received certificates of insurance demonstrating that it was an additional insured under the subcontractor's policy for underlying damages that resulted from negligence. The opinion is instructive for three key rulings: First, certificates of insurance reflect the parties' intent to add the general contractor as an additional insured, and are not merely for "informational purposes" only, as the insurer asserted. Second, an insurer may have a duty to indemnify a general contractor even in the absence of a duty to defend. Third, the contractual liability exclusion will not apply to bar coverage for an underlying claim when the claim includes both allegations of negligence as well as breach of contractual provisions....