General & Professional Liability Insurance

General liability insurance (GL) is coverage that can protect you from a variety of claims including bodily injury, property damage, personal injury and others that can arise from your business operations. General liability insurance is often combined with property insurance in a Business Owners Policy (BOP), but general liability insurance also is available to many businesses as standalone coverage.

The two primary coverages in a General Liability policy intended to protect against claims of bodily injury and property damage arising from your products, services and operations. To illustrate these coverages, here are two common scenarios for GL claims:

• A visitor to your office trips over an exposed wire and breaks a leg. This is an example of a bodily injury claim on your premises/operations).
• Your product short circuits and causes fire damage to a building. This is an example of a products liability claim.

Professional liability insurance is also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but it is often more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) insurance. Professional Liability insurance is a form of liability insurance that helps protect professionals who provide advice and guidance from potential negligence claims made by a client (and potential damages from such a civil lawsuit). This coverage focuses on the alleged failure to perform and / or the errors or omissions in the service or product sold by the business. Professional liability insurance is often required by law for certain kinds of professional services businesses (especially in the medical, insurance, accounting, financial services, real estate and legal industries). It is also sometimes required under contract by other businesses that are the beneficiaries of the advice or service of these industries.

Employment Practices Liability Insurance for employers covers employment-related liabilities other than on-the-job injuries. This can include legal fees and damages for suits such as wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other alleged violations of employees’ legal rights. If you have employees, we recommends considering this type of coverage.

D&O insurance covers Directors and Officers of a company for negligent acts or omissions and for misleading statements that result in lawsuits against the company.  There are a variety of Directors and Officers coverages available such as corporate reimbursement coverage, personal liability, and entity coverage. D&O policies may be broadened to include coverage for employment practices liability as well.