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Professional Liability
The scope of coverage offered in a General Liability policy is vast for a business owner. While it is true that this policy protects you from negligent liabilities created by your operations, it only provides this protection for any “bodily injuries” you cause others or damage to other’s property, provided that it is not excluded. However, it does not provide protection for financial losses that may occur from someone taking your advice and later discovering or believing that it was not the right advice they needed. Where do we go to obtain this protection? – Errors & Omissions coverage or more widely known as Professional Liability. A growing number of our clients are facing professional liability claims and they are not just doctors, architects and lawyers.
Business associations, consultants of all types, graphic designers and even social services such as non-profit organizations are all facing significant defense costs as a result of many frivolous lawsuits. Take as an example where an auctioneer is sued for poor promotion when the heirs of the estate claimed that inadequate advertising caused an auction to be much less profitable than anticipated.
For the buyer of Professional Liability insurance, there is a wide variety of policies available with no two companies being identical. With issues like “occurrence based” versus “Pure Claims Made” or “Claims Made and Reported” policies, retroactive dates – should I maintain an old date or have it moved up?, and even defense costs as to whether they are paid “inside” the limits or “outside”, is it any wonder that it is all too confusing? We at Carolina Insurance Solutions (CIS) have worked with many Professionals in selecting a policy that best suits their needs. Many times we find that previous agencies have failed to recognize the importance of policy language in these policies and you could unknowingly have no protection for services you are offering. We concentrate on areas that are critical to you: definitions of “Wrongful Acts”, is network security provided if you are held liable for lost or stolen information, how does the “tail” coverage work or is there an option to purchase “Prior Acts” coverage. Don’t let this happen to your business! Many of the insurance carriers we work with have loss assistance hotlines that allow our clients the ability to seek free legal consultations, have new contracts reviewed at no cost to them by the carrier and the ability to be reimbursed for image restoration expenses and defense costs resulting from disciplinary proceedings. If you do not have these or worse, you don’t know if you have these enhancements, are you working with the right partner to best protect your interests? We would love to review your current coverage and advise you of options available to you at no additional cost.
Buying General Liability and Errors & Omissions Insurance – What You Need to Know