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What Is General Liability Insurance?

General liability insurance helps with covered claims for injuries to other people, damage to their property and specified advertising offenses.

What Does General Liability Insurance Cover?

General liability insurance addresses business liability for injury to other people, damage to their property, and specified personal or advertising injuries. 1

Injury and Property Damage

Injury or property-damage liability can arise at your premises, while work is underway elsewhere, or from products and completed work. 2

Personal and Advertising Injury

Personal and advertising injury addresses specified offenses, such as libel or slander; it is not a blanket promise to cover every marketing dispute. 1,3

Medical Payments

Medical-payments protection is distinct from liability damages: it can address specified smaller injury expenses without first establishing legal fault. 1

Who Needs General Liability Insurance?

Consider general liability if you welcome visitors, work at customer sites, sell products or have a lease or contract requiring liability insurance. 2 2

Coverage Examples

These are examples, not coverage guarantees. Your policy terms and the facts of the claim determine what is covered.

What happened

A Visitor Trips in Your Office

A delivery driver trips over a loose cable in reception and asks your business to pay for the injury.

How coverage may help

General liability may cover the injury claim and its defense. Medical payments, if included, can address certain smaller injury expenses without first establishing fault. 1,2,3

What happened

A Competitor Challenges Your Ad

A competitor says your campaign copied its advertising idea and sends a demand letter.

How coverage may help

Personal and advertising injury coverage applies to specified offenses. It may help with the claim, but it doesn't cover every marketing or intellectual-property dispute. 1,3

How Do You Compare Coverage and Costs?

Defense and Limits

Check the insurer’s defense obligation and whether defense expenses reduce the available limit. 3 Compare the per-occurrence limit, general aggregate, and products/completed-operations aggregate. 3
Comparison pointWhat to ask
Per-occurrence limitHow much is available for one incident?
General aggregateHow much is available for all covered claims in the period, other than products and completed operations?
Products/completed-operations aggregateHow much is available after products leave your possession or work is completed?
DefenseDoes the insurer have a duty to defend, and do defense expenses reduce those limits?
3 3

Work, Products and Property in Your Care

Coverage for damage to someone else's property doesn't settle every repair bill. Damage to the item you're working on, your own finished work or your own product can be treated differently. A repair shop should describe customers' equipment left in its care, as well as its work at customer sites. 3

Timing and Insured Entities

Check when injury or damage must occur and how to report an incident or claim. 3 Confirm the named businesses and people insured, especially after adding an entity or changing operations. 3

Other Exposures Beyond Premises Liability

Discuss auto, employee-injury, pollution and alcohol-related exposures separately from ordinary premises liability. 3

How Does It Compare With Related Coverage?

Property Packages

A business owner’s policy combines liability with property protection; general liability alone is not insurance for your own building or equipment. 1,2

Professional Services

Separate injury or property-damage exposures from allegations that professional advice or services caused a client financial loss. 1

What Do You Need for a Quote?

Operations and Existing Coverage

Prepare a description of operations, locations, products and work performed away from your premises, together with current policy information. 2

Exposure Measures

Have sales, payroll or floor-area information available and ask which exposure measure applies to your business. 2
PrepareHow to use it
Locations and a description of the work done thereCheck that the quote addresses premises and work away from the premises.
Products and completed workIdentify what leaves your possession and what work is finished at a client site.
Current liability policy, if you have oneCompare existing limits, insureds and exclusions with the proposal.
Sales, payroll or floor areaAsk which exposure measure the quote uses, then supply that figure.
2 2

Key Terms in Plain English

Per-Occurrence Limit

The limit that applies to one covered occurrence; compare it with the aggregate available across claims. 3

Medical Payments

A separate provision for specified injury expenses that can apply without first establishing legal fault. 1

A Policy Example to Compare

See Corgi's guide for an example of one provider's coverage terms and optional extensions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does General Liability Cover My Own Equipment?

No. General liability alone doesn't insure your own building or equipment. Property coverage, including the property part of a BOP, addresses those assets. 1,2

Does It Cover Mistakes in Professional Advice?

A client's financial loss from professional advice belongs in a professional-liability review. General liability for injury or property damage doesn't settle that exposure. 1

Does General Liability Insurance Cover Libel or Slander?

Specified personal and advertising injuries can include libel or slander. That does not mean every advertising or marketing dispute is covered; check the offenses and exclusions in the policy. 1,3

Can General Liability Pay Medical Expenses Without a Lawsuit?

Medical-payments protection can pay specified smaller injury expenses without first establishing legal fault. It is separate from the policy’s liability damages protection and has its own terms. 1

Which Insurance Providers Offer General liability?

Sources

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Updated .

Sources checked .

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