What Does General Liability Insurance Cover? 

General liability insurance is sort of like car or homeowners insurance but for businesses in California.

It safeguards your company from general claims involving property damage or bodily injury.

According to The Hartford, the average cost of a slip and fall injury ends up costing the average business about $20,000.

Also like car or homeowners insurance, general liability insurance is something basically every self-employed person or company needs.

Discuss your options with Northridge, CA, insurance professionals, today. 

Which Businesses Should Have General Liability Insurance?

These are the kind of companies that most commonly take advantage of the protection offered by general liability insurance:

1. Artisans
2. Consultant firms
3. Marketing agencies
4. Realtors
5. Landscapers
6. Cleaning services
7. IT professionals
8. Any small business

What is Protected by General Liability Coverage?

Here are some examples of the types of things covered by general liability insurance:

Claims of Copyright Infringement – If your company is accused of using someone else’s copyrighted material without proper permission, general liability insurance can help.

An example might be if a jingle in your commercial sounds like someone else’s copyrighted song.

Claims of Property Damage – If your business causes damage to someone else’s property or if their property gets damaged while on your premises, you could be responsible for paying damages.

An example might be if someone trips going up your stairs to the second floor or if one of your service trucks was out fixing a flat tire for a customer on the side of the freeway and your technician scratched their car.

Your company can also be held liable for property damage if you provide in-home services and you damage property at their house. The same applies if you go to other businesses to provide services.

Claims of Advertising Injury – What is “advertising injury”? This means that one of your ads, social media posts or marketing campaigns defames someone or another business.

To defame is to damage the reputation of an entity.

An example of this type of general liability claim is if you ran an ad comparing your service to a competitor’s service, and you accidentally stated something incorrect about their services that caused a drop in their sales.

Claims of Bodily Injury – This may be the most common business liability.

If a visitor to your store, someone opening one of your packages, or someone using one of your products gets hurt, your business may be responsible.

Your company could be liable for their medical bills, physical therapy, medical devices, nursing care, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Something as mundane as slipping on your wet entryway could lead to a bodily injury claim.

Claims of Reputational Harm – Like advertising injury, reputational injury is when a representative of your company makes a public statement, possibly to a newspaper or on social media, that damages the good name of another business.

The Hartford reports that a typical reputational harm lawsuit costs businesses around $50,000.

This is why you need general liability insurance!

Panorama Insurance Agency Offers General Liability Coverage

Panorama Insurance Agency Northridge, CA can help you keep your business protected from general liability claims. To see what kind of coverage we can offer, please contact us today for more information. Call: 818-781-6630.