Illinois Business Insurance

The many corporate offices in Chicago and beyond create numerous opportunities for Illinois's IT consultants, whose everyday work with high-end equipment and sensitive personal and business information brings a consistent level of risk.

Because IT consultants can have a huge impact on a client's business, they can benefit from professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions insurance. This policy would protect an IT consultant if, for example, they review a client's website and network security in order to implement new security procedures—and, a month later, the client's website gets hacked and they lose revenue from the site being down. Even if the IT consultant hasn't made a mistake, the client could still make a claim against them. A professional liability policy could cover defense costs as well as any settlement or judgment.

General liability insurance protects against a third party’s claims of bodily injury or property damage. If an IT consultant is at a client’s site, for example, and spills a cup of coffee on the client’s server, a general liability policy could cover the cost to replace the server. And a business owner's policy (BOP), which combines general liability insurance and business property insurance, would cover damage to the IT consultant's property or equipment, if, for instance, a laptop gets stolen, a server is damaged during a power surge, or an office is flooded by a burst pipe.
 

Whether they shoot for the news, for corporate clients' social media pages, for personal portraits or other Illinois customers, photographers have to liaise with clients, navigate challenging environments, and get the perfect shot—all while managing their valuable equipment. A photographer's job can be exciting, but all that excitement can bring a heightened risk.

Photographers can help protect their businesses by securing reliable professional liability insurance coverage, also called errors and omissions insurance, which covers claims against businesses that provide professional services. These claims might arise, for example, if a difficult client is dissatisfied with a photographer's shots or if a faulty hard drive prevents a photographer from delivering on a contract.

General liability insurance, which protects against claims of bodily injury or property damage, provides another layer of protection. A photographer might face claims like these if a client trips over a piece of equipment and sprains their ankle, or if the photographer's assistant is heard gossiping about a high-profile client who subsequently files a libel or defamation lawsuit.

In addition, a business owner's policy (BOP), which combines general liability insurance and business property insurance, can protect the investment of a photographer's professional equipment. For example, if a photographer's camera bag falls out of their car and onto the concrete, damaging a lens and a portable hard drive, a Hiscox business owner's policy could provide coverage for the damaged equipment and help cover the cost of recovering the data. 

Buying or selling a home can be a stressful time, and that's especially true in Illinois, where sellers have recently struggled with decreasing property values. Real estate agents may have to face disappointed clients who make claims of alleged failures to disclose defects, disclaimers, clear boundary lines and other issues that arise in the sale of a property. 

Reliable professional liability insurance coverage, also called errors and omissions insurance, protects against such claims against businesses that provide professional services—particularly in industries such as real estate, where large sums of money (and many emotions) are at stake in each transaction. For example, professional liability insurance can protect in cases of buyer's remorse, such as if the new owner of a lakefront property claims, however falsely, that they overpaid because the agent did not disclose that the property does not include the lake frontage. Professional liability insurance will also protect against claims of wrongful discrimination, such as if clients claim that they weren't shown certain homes because of their race, religion or gender. Even when such claims are baseless, they can result in lawsuits that put the real estate agent's business and reputation at risk.

In addition, general liability insurance, which protects against third-party claims of bodily injury or property damage, can pay for any damages incurred if, for example, a real estate agent accidentally knocks over an expensive vase while showing a client's home or if a client trips and falls while visiting the real estate agent's office. 

Because their services might include maintaining confidential information, offering managerial advice, and recommending financial plans and investment strategies, the work of a business consultant in Illinois is particularly sensitive, so they can benefit from small business insurance.

Professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions insurance, can cover claims against businesses that provide professional and personal services, and it offers protection even in cases where the business consultant hasn't made a mistake. For example, if a business consultant advises a client to change some internal process to increase productivity, the client does not implement the recommendations exactly as specified, and productivity subsequently drops instead of improving, the client may decide to sue. A Hiscox-obtained defense attorney would defend the business consultant against this baseless claim of negligence.

General liability insurance, which protects against third-party claims of bodily injury or property damage, is also helpful for a business consultant. General liability will cover medical costs if, for example, a client slips and falls in the consultant’s office. It will also cover repair or replacements costs if a client’s property is damaged. 

Business consultants can also benefit from a business owner's policy (BOP), which combines general liability insurance and business property insurance. It can cover damage to property or equipment, such as if laptops, webcams, phones or printers are stolen or damaged.

Personal trainers in Illinois might help clients train for competition, recover after injuries, or simply get in shape, and as personal trainers know well, a lot can go wrong when training. Whether it's an injury sustained during a workout or chronic pain that occurs after sessions, the risks that come along with any fitness regimen may prompt litigious clients to file a claim against personal trainers, even when the trainer has done nothing wrong.

Professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions insurance, can cover claims against businesses that provide professional and personal services, and it offers protection even in cases where the personal trainer hasn't made a mistake. For example, if an older client happens to suffer chest pain and has to be rushed to the hospital after a session with a personal trainer, he may later claim that the personal trainer caused his heart attack and mental anguish. A Hiscox professional liability policy will provide an attorney to defend against such claims, and will cover any settlement or judgment up to policy limits.

In addition, the physical nature of a personal trainer's business can use the protection of general liability insurance, which protects against claims of bodily injury or property damage. This would protect the personal trainer's business if, for example, a client trips over a stack of weights and blames the personal trainer for not keeping the area clear and safe.

General liability insurance, known as Commercial General Liability (CGL), protects your business from another person or business’s claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs, and damage to property. Some examples of what could be covered are below:

• Bodily injury: A customer trips and falls when entering a hair salon and breaks their wrist. The client sues the hair salon owner for lost wages. General liability insurance could cover the subsequent claim and related medical expenses.
• Personal injury: A personal trainer is overheard talking about one of his client’s at lunch in a false and unflattering way. Word gets back to the client, who then sues for slander. The personal trainer’s general liability policy could cover defense costs.
• Damage to property: A photographer is contracted to take pictures for a marketing firm’s portfolio. While the photographer is uploading the photos to the server she accidentally knocks over a bottle of water on the firm’s server. The machine is damaged beyond repair and valuable data is lost. The photographer’s general liability insurance policy could cover the cost to replace the server and recover the data.

Learn more about how much general liability insurance costs.

Professional liability insurance, also known as errors and omissions insurance (E&O insurance), covers another person’s claims against businesses that provide professional and personal services. Some examples of what could be covered include:

• Dissatisfied client: A marketing consultant is contracted to create a major campaign for a client. The client continues to change the scope of work and the consultant misses the deadline for the campaign to go live. The client sues. A professional liability policy could protect the consultant, even if no mistake was made.
• Negligence: A human resources consultant is hired to update a company’s employment practices. Six months later, the client calls to say a part-time employee is suing the company because a key provision for the number of hours part-timers can work was omitted from the employee manual. The client makes a claim against the consultant, contending they were responsible for the mistake. The consultants professional liability policy could protect them, including defense costs.

Learn more about professional liability insurance.

Business owners policy (BOP) is a combination of general liability and business property insurance. BOP is often used to provide balanced coverage for small businesses who also want to protect their own business equipment. Some examples of what could be covered are below:

• Office insurance for fire and business interruption.
• Electronic data loss insurance.
• Hired or non-owned vehicle liability insurance.
• Commercial crime insurance to cover the dishonesty of your employees.

Learn more about business owners insurance.