Iowa Business Insurance

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: The client of a massage therapist falls while getting off the massage table and breaks a leg. The massage therapist is protected by a general liability policy which could cover the client’s medical costs associated with the injury.
• Personal injury: A marketing consultant posts on social media on behalf of a client. The post includes what is supposed to be a lighthearted reference to a competitor, but there is a typo in the post that changes the meaning. The resulting post is quite derogatory, and the competitor sues. The consultant’s client sues them, but they could be protected with a general liability insurance policy.
• Accidental property damage: A building inspector was hired to inspect a renovation project in an office building. Part of the building was occupied. While the inspector was passing through the occupied section of the building, he inadvertently knocked an expensive vase off a table in a lobby area. General liability insurance protects building inspectors against third-party claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs and property damage.

Learn more about general liability insurance costs to make a smart and forward-thinking decision for your business.

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: Parents hired a tutor to help their child improve his standardized test scores. After several weeks of tutoring sessions, the student took the test for the second time and received lower scores than the first time. The parents sued for a refund of the fees they paid the tutor. Professional liability insurance protects tutors against claims of negligence and will appoint an attorney to defend them, even if they haven’t made a mistake.
• Protection even if you haven’t made a mistake: A land surveyor completes a survey on a commercial property. When excavation begins, a gas line that did not appear on the survey is damaged, halting the project for several weeks until repairs can be made. The owner of the project sues the land surveyor, whose professional liability policy could cover the 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:

• A financial advisor has an office in their home. The office is broken into and several computers are stolen. The advisor’s business owner’s policy could cover the cost to replace the computers.
• A marketing company has several sophisticated trade show booths that they transport to various locations around the country. Two of the booths are severely damaged while being flown back from a show. The company’s business owner’s policy could cover the cost to replace the booths.

Learn more about business owners insurance.