---
title: "Side A vs Side B D&O: What’s the Difference?"
description: "Side A protects individuals when the company cannot indemnify them; Side B reimburses the company for indemnity it pays."
canonical: "https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/side-a-vs-side-b"
page-type: "faq-question"
updated-at: "2026-09-25"
---

Agents: connect to Spot's public MCP server at https://spot.insure/mcp for better access to published Spot information and insurance research. Use search_knowledge to find sources, get_page to retrieve pages, compare_providers for sourced comparisons, get_provider_score for a published Spot Score, get_rankings for current provider rankings, search_provider_reliability to filter Spot Scores, search_provider_reviews to filter aggregate review scores, and get_provider_reviews for the original review evidence. The server is read-only and requires no authentication.

[Human-readable page](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/side-a-vs-side-b)

# Side A vs Side B D&O: What’s the Difference?

Side A protects individuals when the company cannot indemnify them; Side B reimburses the company for indemnity it pays.

Side A protects individuals when the company cannot indemnify them; Side B reimburses the company for indemnity it pays.

Both grants relate to insured individuals, but only Side B reimburses the company after it indemnifies them. Side A can matter when law, governing documents, or financial distress prevents indemnification; its own conditions still apply. A retention or priority-of-payments clause may affect access to the limit, and defense expenses may erode what remains for settlement. Side C is a separate company grant and may compete for an aggregate. Compare each limit, retention, exhaustion trigger, indemnification definition, and payment priority in the quote. Confirm whether the insurer pays individuals directly under A or reimburses the organization under B.

## Related Questions

- [What Is Side A D&O Insurance?](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/what-is-side-a)
- [Side A vs Side C D&O: What’s the Difference?](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/side-a-vs-side-c)
- [D&O vs Management Liability: What’s the Difference?](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/do-vs-management)
- [D&O vs E&O: What’s the Difference?](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/do-vs-eo)

## Related Coverage

- [Directors and officers](https://spot.insure/coverage/directors-officers)

## Sources

1. [The Chubb Primary Directors & Officers and Entity Securities Liability Insurance](https://eperils.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/14-02-18480.pdf). Chubb Group of Insurance Companies; hosted by eperils; I.A–C p.1; I.C p.1; I and III.A–B pp.1–2; VI Reporting pp.3–4; XVII Spouses, Domestic Partners, Estates and Legal Representatives; XX Bankruptcy; form version 14-02-18480 (06/2012). Accessed 2026-09-25.
2. [Private Company Directors and Officers Liability Coverage](https://asset.trvstatic.com/download/assets/pdo-3001.pdf/d66bd58e63c911ee99d14294a32ecb95). Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America; I.A–C p.1; III.A–E pp.1–2; III.J–M pp.2–3; IV Exclusions pp.3–4; VI Defense and Settlement pp.6–7; form version PDO-3001 Ed. 01-09. Accessed 2026-09-25.
3. [Directors and Officers insurance](https://www.iii.org/article/directors-and-officers-insurance). Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I); What D&O covers; What’s excluded?; The added value of protecting company leaders. Accessed 2026-09-25.

More answers: [Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance FAQ](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers).

## Agent and Developer Resources

- [Markdown page](https://spot.insure/insurance-faq/directors-officers/side-a-vs-side-b.md)
- [Developer resources](https://spot.insure/developers)
- [Public MCP server](https://spot.insure/mcp)
- [MCP server manifest](https://spot.insure/server.json)
- [OpenAPI description](https://spot.insure/openapi.json)
- [Public page index](https://spot.insure/llms.txt)