What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover? In many situations, professional liability insurance is the best way to protect your business from lawsuits and costly legal costs. This insurance is designed to defend you in court against allegations of malpractice or wrongful conduct, and can cover any damages caused by your professional errors. It can also protect your employees and independent contractors against claims that they misdiagnosed a patient or other patient’s condition. Even a simple misdiagnosis can cause a client much suffering and increase their medical costs.
Professional liability insurance is usually required by law or contractual obligations for those who provide services. Depending on the profession, this insurance can vary in coverage amounts and deductibles. For example, a medical professional’s policy might exclude bodily injury, but cover property damage. In addition, insurance for architects and engineers typically focuses on their profession. If you’re in the health care field, professional liability insurance is especially helpful if your practice involves a medical professional.
Other professional liability insurance can cover the costs of contingent bodily injury and other types of bodily injury that are related to your services. For example, a consultant who draws up safety procedures for a client might be sued by a client after an employee in the client’s workplace becomes injured during routine safety training. Professional liability insurance won’t cover discrimination or abuse lawsuits, however, and it will only cover the legal expenses of defending you in court if your client refuses to pay for them.
The cost of professional liability insurance will depend on several factors, including your industry, your location, and the number of employees you have. Additionally, the type of policy you choose will depend on the level of risk you’re willing to take. The higher your deductible, the lower your premiums will be. In many cases, you can choose to purchase a policy with a low deductible and higher coverage. However, it’s important to make sure that you understand how much coverage you need.
There are many types of professional liability insurance, including errors and omissions insurance. A professional liability policy will cover claims that aren’t covered by general liability insurance, and will typically cover negligence, misrepresentation, breach of good faith, and inaccurate advice. There are many other types of professional liability insurance, but these are just some of the examples. You can purchase a policy tailored to your needs to protect your company.
The most important question you should ask yourself when purchasing professional liability insurance is “when does the coverage start?” The answer to that question depends on the policy you purchase. Most professional liability insurance policies are claims-made, which means they must have been in place at the time the event took place or a lawsuit was filed. However, if you plan to change careers, you may want to opt for an occurrence policy, which covers the same claims at any time during the policy period.
