Professional Liability Insurance

Protect Yourself And Your Business From Claims Not Covered By Commercial General Liability Coverage.

Professional liability insurance covers liability for damages arising from the rendering of or failure to render professional services, claims not covered by commercial general liability coverage.

Professional liability insurance also referred to as errors & omissions insurance protects professional personnel against negligence claims made by their clients (or in the case of medical fields, their patients).

Professionals who commonly turn to this type of liability insurance for coverage include architects, home inspectors, lawyers, physicians, real estate brokers, and accountants.

However, in the last few years even different more types of professionals have seen a need for professional liability insurance (marketing consultants, video producers, management consultants, and the list goes on).

Here’s what you need to know…

The need for professional liability coverage developed due to typical general liability insurance policies only responding to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, or an advertising injury claim.

Because professionals such as architects, lawyers, physicians, real estate brokers, technology consultants, and others can cause claims without bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, or an advertising injury claim, additional coverage is needed to fill this gap.

Common claims made on these policies include:

Negligence,
Misrepresentation,
Violation of good faith and fair dealing,
and inaccurate advice.

For example, if a web design platform fails to perform properly, it would not cause bodily injury, property damage, or advertising injuries.

Because of this, the general liability policy would not be triggered. But because the web design platform not performing correctly could directly cause financial losses, and may be attributed to a misrepresentation of the platform’s capabilities, the professional liability coverage would be triggered.

When buying professional liability coverage, how do you make sure you’re getting the right policy and coverage for your business?

Here are a few items to consider that will help you determine the right policy for your business:

Is the insuring agreement broad enough to capture all of the current and future work of the policyholder? Determine if the policy covers the scope of your organization’s professional tasks and services by reading the definition of the covered services in the policy. For example, in a medical professional’s professional liability coverage, the operative definition would be “medical services” or a comparable phrase. Rogue Risk can help you determine if all professional tasks would be covered under the operative definition or if additional clauses would need to be added.
What if there is a sale, merger or change in position at your organization? Discuss what these possible changes in services mean for your coverage. Is there approval needed to continue coverage?
Are there any exclusions? Look at the list of exclusions that resist coverage. Review the list to make sure it does not preclude coverage for any professional services or tasks that you need to be covered.
Is an extended reporting period an option under the policy? These provisions offer extensions of time to report claims that would otherwise fall outside the policy period—as long as the act/omission resulting in the claim occurred during the policy period. Find out what extended reporting period options are available and discuss how much time the policyholder may need to report a claim.
Can the policy be customized or modified? Can extensions be added? Common additional coverage includes disciplinary proceedings or reduced retentions and may be of importance to your business.
Have there been any past tasks or activities at your business that could potentially result in a claim? Have there been past instances where a claim was filed? What was the result? Discussing the specifics of these with Rogue Risk can help determine what coverage specifications you need now, to prepare you for the future.

Other ways to protect your business, in addition to professional liability insurance, include the following:

Establish a high standard for product and service quality control at your organization.
Keep all company records up-to-date and accurate.
Train employees thoroughly and properly. Our RogueRisk365 program can help.
Ask one of our team members here at Rogue Risk for safety and compliance information.