What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?

What Does Professional Liability Insurance Cover?

If you or your employees make a mistake, there can be claims and lawsuits filed against you. Professional liability insurance provides protection when customers claim your business made mistakes at their expense.

Here are a few scenarios to help give you a better sense of what professional liability insurance covers:

Negligence or alleged negligence

Let’s say you are an esthetician and you’re working with a new client who gives you a list of her allergies and mentions having sensitive skin. You advise her to use a product line to improve her skin’s elasticity. She files a claim against you saying you were negligent when making product recommendations and that her skin broke out in a rash after using the cleanser and toner.

This is why professional liability insurance is important; it may cover the legal costs and any payouts that may arise from claims brought against you.

Our licensed agents at Simply Business are happy to help you find the right amount of coverage based on your specific business needs.

Libel and slander

Another example could be that you’re a graphic designer, and you’ve been hired to create a website design for a new business. After a few months, you finally are able to publish your work. A couple of weeks later, the client calls you and claims that the website features inappropriate images, causing the business owner’s customers to report her site.

You didn’t add those images — you’re not sure who did — but it doesn’t matter, because your client sues you for damages to their business.

This is when professional liability insurance may cover some legal costs and payouts (up to your policy limit). Always carefully assess the work you’re doing. If you genuinely don’t detect any issues, it’s helpful to know you could be covered by professional liability insurance in case such a situation arises.

Professional Liability Insurance Doesn’t Cover:

• Bodily or physical injury
• Copyright, patent or trademark infringement
• Malicious, dishonest, criminal or illegal acts
• Property damage

Want to know more about professional liability insurance? Check out:

• What is Professional Liability Insurance?
• How much does professional liability insurance cost?
• Do I need professional liability insurance?
• How much professional liability insurance do I need?
• Is Professional Liability Insurance Tax Deductible?
• Is professional liability insurance the same as errors and omissions?