West Virginia 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: A family came to a photographer’s studio for a portrait session. The family included twin boys who are three years old, as well as a new-born. While the photographer was setting up, the twins ran around the studio, and one of them tripped over a tripod, fell, and cut his forehead, requiring a trip to the emergency room and several stitches. The parents made a claim against the photographer for bodily injury and medical costs. A general liability policy could have protected the photographer against such a claim.
• Property damage: A document preparation specialist was working on a project in a client’s office. While he was there, he spilled a cup of coffee on an expensive high-volume printer. The client held the specialist responsible for the cost to replace the printer. General liability insurance could protect document preparers against third-party claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs and property damage.
• Personal injury: A management consultant made disparaging remarks about an executive in a client company, and they were overheard by the assistant to the executive. She reported them to the executive, who sued the management consultant for defamation. General liability insurance could protect project managers against third-party claims of bodily injury, associated medical costs and property damage.

Learn more about general liability insurance costs 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:

• Emotional distress: A hairdresser leaves hair dye treatment on a client for too long which results in scalp burns. The client sues for emotional distress, bodily injury and loss of wages because she could not return to work for several weeks. Professional liability insurance could protect hairdressers and barbers against claims of negligence, even if they haven’t made a mistake.
• Negligence: A marketing consultant agreed to take over a project that had been started by someone else, but was running late and over budget. Once the consultant began work, it became apparent that the scope of work was not adequately described by the client and the schedule and budget were unrealistic. The client charged that the marketing consultant failed to do due diligence before signing the contract and sued the consultant. Professional liability insurance could protect marketing consultants against claims of negligence and will appoint an attorney to defend them, even if they haven’t made a mistake.

Learn more about professional liability insurance.