General Liability Insurance Coverages
The following coverages are available under the General Liability policy.
Comprehensive General Liability
- Provides Liability coverage for Bodily Injury and Property Damage
arising from accidents on premises, business operations in progress,
products manufactured or sold, and completed operations. Bodily Injury
includes sickness or disease and death in addition to accidental
injuries. Property Damage applies only to claims from damage to tangible
property or loss of use of tangible property not damaged.
Premises and Operations
- The Premises hazard exists when there is ownership or occupancy of
property (the premises). A customer may have a premises claim against
the Insured if the newly waxed floors caused the customer to slip and
fall.
- The Operations hazard exists when activity in addition to occupancy
of property exists. Most of our customers have this exposure rather than
Premises. A carpenter may be negligent and cut the electrical wiring,
causing Property Damage to the building.
Products and Completed Operations
- Products hazard arises from the manufacturing or selling of a
product such as an air conditioner. A compressor that our Insured sold
and installed for the client may have been defective and caused a fire
damaging the building.
- Completed Operations is a hazard that remains after the contractor
has completed the job. In the air conditioner example above, if the
compressor was improperly installed and later caused fire damage due to
the improper installation, any resulting injuries or Property Damage
would be said to emanate from the Completed Operations hazard.
Advertising Injury
- This coverage includes libel or slander; invasion of privacy;
misappropriation of advertising ideas or style of doing business; or
infringement of copyright, title, or slogan, all in the course of
advertising the Insured's goods or services. Some of the newer policies
do exclude copyright infringement so make sure to check with your agent.
Fire Legal Liability
- Provides Property Damage coverage to property leased or rented to
the Insured. If the Insured rents a building and by negligence on the
part of the Insured, fire damages the part of the building that is
leased by the Insured, Fire Legal Liability coverage limit would apply.
Most agents over look Fire Legal Liability. It is important to insure
for a limit equal to the value of the area of the building you are
renting or leasing. Most policies only contain $50,000 of fire legal
liability. Say for example you occupy 5000 square feet of a 30,000
square foot building. Therefore you occupy 1/6 of the building. If the
building you lease is valued at $3,000,000 you need your fire legal
liability to be $500,000 at least. That is 1/6 of the total value of the
building. Also you need to understand that fire legal liability only
pertains to the space you rent or lease. Once the fire leaves the area
you rent or lease, any subsequent damage would be covered under the Per
Occurrence Limit of your policy. Check with your agent to make
sure you have an adequate Fire Legal Liability Limit. You may also want
to inquire about Tenant Legal Liability to insure against perils other
than fire.
Premises Medical Payments
- Provides Medical Payments for persons, other than the Named
Insured, for Bodily Injury suffered on the premises, even though the
Insured was not negligent. The difference between Medical Payments and
Premises Liability is negligence. You do not need to be held negligent
for the insurance company to pay a medical payment claim. This allows
the company to pay small nuisance claims without the need for costly
legal expenses. However raising the medical payments limit can also mean
your insurance company may pay too many of these small nuisance claims.
Since most people who commit insurance fraud know most companies would
rather pay the medical payment limit than fight the claim through their
attorneys. Sometimes it is best to have a lower medical payments limit.
Remember insurance works a lot like credit. The better history you have,
fewer losses, the lower your costs will be.
CGLs generally exclude claims arising from the rendering or the failure
to render
professional services, and most professional exposures are more
appropriately covered by a separate policy. Malpractice insurance (sometimes
called "professional liability" or "error & omissions coverage") might be
available for
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