Two Common Types of Liability Insurance
When people talk about insurance, usually the first things that come to mind are life insurance, health insurance, and home insurance. However, for professionals and business professionals, when it comes to insurances, what comes up to their mind is liability insurance. In many countries all over the world, liability insurance is actually a mandatory type of insurance to have if your work is in danger of getting sued due to negligence on your part or the people who work for you.
There are actually many types of liability insurance policies and that they extend not only to the owners or professionals themselves, but also with the people who manage, create, or even deliver their products. There is a wide range of liability insurance policies that caters to particular situations or scenarios where liability insurance is necessary.
There are two common types of liability insurance – general liability insurance and professional liability insurance.
General Liability Insurance – this is the most basic type of business insurance. If you only have one type of business insurance, there is a big possibility that it is a commercial general liability insurance. All business can benefit from having adequate amounts of insurance coverage provided by this form of general liability insurance.
Basically, what this type of insurance provides the insured on cases wherein a client or a customer gets injured within the business premises. The insurance also provides coverage for injuries or damages that are the fault of the employees while they are in the premise of the client. If you are running a business, then it is in your best interest to have this type of insurance as this general liability insurance provides your business the financial protection it needs to not go out of business on issues like client injuries or property damages.
Professional Liability Insurance – this is a type of liability insurance that has been designed to protect professional individuals such as medical professionals, healthcare providers, engineers, architects, lawyers, accountants, IT professionals, real estate agents, and even advertising agents. It protects them from claims like malpractice, and errors and omissions. Since many legal actions occur due to such, having professional liability insurance can help protect not just the financial interest, but the professional interest of that individual. There are actually many other types of professional fields that require such protection. If you are work as a professional that provides services to others, it is in your best interest to protect yourself with professional liability insurance.
Importance of Professional Liability Insurance
If you are working as a professional individual, it is likely that you have studied and worked hard to acquire your professional license. Nearly any type of professional profession these days requires a license to regulate the people who are qualified to practice such profession. A professional license is a very much desirable thing to have these days as many clients are looking for people who can provide them with proper service on a particular field that they need.
A professional license is a must have because this is one of the crucial preference that clients have. Engineers, doctors, lawyers, architects, accountants, therapists, and trainers all need to have license to practice their profession. Basically, your license is the main assurance of people hiring you that you are qualified for the job. However, as a professional, should you make a mistake in the services you are providing, you can get sued by the people or clients you are providing service and that such lawsuits, should you be proven guilty, will not only need to pay settlements, but there is also a chance that you may lose your professional license, especially if you are unable to make the settlements.
The truth is that these are very litigious times and that you can get sued by dissatisfied clients. Even if there was really no mistake on your part and that your client is simply dissatisfied with the service you have given them, they can sue you for that. Of course, as with any type of lawsuit, you have the right to defend yourself. However, if the plaintiff has a very charming, persuasive, and charismatic lawyer, they can actually turn the favor on their side, with you on the losing side. When this happens, you may need to pay for the settlements as decided by court; a settlement that can be very costly on your part.
To protect yourself from such expenses, you need to buy professional liability insurance coverage. This type of coverage protects you from the expenses incurred from any lawsuit. Although such insurance may sound like an unwanted expense on your part, you surely would not want to get caught with lawsuit and not have an insurance that can financially assist you. Although lawsuits are unwanted, should they happen, you have the financial backing of an insurance company.
There are many types of professional liability insurance. If you are looking to get one, you may want to do some research first online to at least have an idea on what you need. Thanks to the internet, you can even connect to different insurance company websites as well as insurance brokerage website and get quotes from the professional liability insurance you plan on getting. Once you know what type of insurance you need to get and how much premium you need to pay, you can visit your nearest insurance brokerage so you can buy the protection coverage you need for your profession.
