General Liability Insurance FAQ
Answers about what commercial general liability insurance covers, from customer injuries and property damage to advertising injury, and what it leaves to other policies.
What It Covers
Does General Liability Cover Advertising Injury?
Coverage B may cover liability from certain defined advertising offenses, but it is not general protection for every marketing dispute or allegedly misleading ad.
Does General Liability Cover Bodily Injury and Customer Injuries?
Usually, for covered accidental injury to a non-employee when the business is legally liable. A limited medical-payments coverage may also apply to some non-employee injuries without proving fault.
Does General Liability Cover Business Property?
No, not as first-party protection for property your business owns. Commercial property coverage may insure buildings, inventory, and business personal property, subject to its terms.
Does General Liability Cover Company Vehicles?
Generally no for crashes involving a company-owned vehicle. Commercial auto liability coverage is the relevant policy to check for covered vehicles and drivers.
Does General Liability Cover Completed Operations?
Often, for covered bodily injury or property damage arising from completed work, but work-related exclusions, the completed-operations aggregate, and policy dates can limit protection.
Does General Liability Cover Construction Defects?
Not automatically. CGL generally excludes the cost to repair defective work itself, while resulting third-party injury or property damage may be analyzed separately.
Does General Liability Cover Damage to Rented Property or Premises?
Sometimes, within limited damage-to-premises-rented coverage. Standard wording has exclusions and a separate limit; check the lease, cause of loss, duration of the rental, and policy endorsement.
Does General Liability Cover Data Breaches?
Usually not the costs of responding to a breach or claims over lost electronic data. A narrow privacy-offense provision is not comprehensive breach coverage.
Does General Liability Cover Defamation?
Sometimes. CGL personal and advertising injury may cover a defined defamation offense, subject to exclusions, timing, and the policy’s wording.
Does General Liability Cover Defective Products?
Usually not the cost to repair or replace the defective product itself. CGL may cover certain resulting third-party injury or property-damage claims, subject to the form.
Does General Liability Cover Events?
It may cover specified third-party injury or property-damage liability at a covered event, but the policy must include the activity, location, dates, and any required event endorsements.
Does General Liability Cover False Advertising?
Not necessarily. CGL Coverage B covers defined offenses and excludes some claims about statements on quality, performance, or price in an advertisement.
Does General Liability Cover Fire Damage?
It can cover your legal liability for fire damage to someone else’s property, including limited rented-premises situations, but separate limits and exclusions may apply.
Does General Liability Cover Harassment?
Generally no for workplace harassment claims. They arise from employment practices and are commonly addressed, if covered, by a separate EPLI policy.
Does General Liability Cover Independent Contractors?
Not automatically. A contractor may be covered only if the policy’s insured definition or an endorsement grants that status; otherwise, check the contractor’s own policy and contract.
Does General Liability Cover Intellectual Property?
Not as broad protection for IP disputes. The standard Coverage B form excludes many IP claims, with a narrow exception for certain copyright, trade dress, or slogan infringement in ads.
Does General Liability Cover International Operations?
It depends on the policy’s coverage territory and where the injury, damage, or offense occurs. Some forms include limited worldwide provisions, but foreign operations often need specific review or local coverage.
Does General Liability Cover Lawsuits?
Often, if a suit alleges covered bodily injury, property damage, or a defined Coverage B offense. The insurer’s duty to defend is limited by the policy wording and claim facts.
Does General Liability Cover Legal Fees?
Often, defense costs for a covered suit are part of the insurer’s duty to defend. Check which expenses qualify and whether they reduce the policy limit.
Does General Liability Cover Libel or Slander?
Sometimes. CGL Coverage B may cover defined libel or slander offenses, but exclusions for knowing falsity, prior publication, or certain media businesses can apply.
Does General Liability Cover Negligence?
Often, when a claim alleges covered third-party bodily injury or property damage caused by a covered occurrence. Professional services and other excluded risks need separate analysis.
Does General Liability Cover Patent Infringement?
Generally no under standard Coverage B wording, which lists patent infringement in its intellectual-property exclusion. Check any endorsements or separate IP coverage.
Does General Liability Cover Personal Vehicles Used for Business?
Generally no for an accident arising from business use of a personal auto. Ask about hired and non-owned auto coverage and confirm the driver’s personal policy terms.
Does General Liability Cover Products and Product Liability?
Many CGL policies include products liability for covered injury or property damage caused by a product, but do not assume the product’s own repair or replacement is covered.
Does General Liability Cover Property Damage?
Usually, when your business is legally liable for accidental damage to someone else’s property caused by a covered occurrence. Damage to your own property and several other categories are excluded.
Does General Liability Cover Ransomware?
Generally no for ransom payments, incident response, data recovery, or resulting downtime. Review cyber coverage and its extortion terms, triggers, and exclusions.
Does General Liability Cover Reputational Harm?
Not as a broad category. A defined Coverage B offense such as libel or slander may be covered, but reputational loss alone does not establish a covered claim.
Does General Liability Cover Settlements?
Potentially, when the settlement resolves a covered claim and the policy’s settlement conditions are met. Payment remains subject to applicable limits, exclusions, and consent terms.
Does General Liability Cover Stolen Equipment?
Usually not for your own equipment. Check commercial property or inland marine coverage for theft, especially when equipment is away from your premises or in transit.
Does General Liability Cover Subcontractors?
Sometimes, but a subcontractor is not automatically an insured. Check the subcontractor-related work exclusion, contract requirements, and any additional-insured endorsement.
Does General Liability Cover Theft?
Generally not for the direct loss of property stolen from your business. Property or crime insurance may apply, depending on what was taken and the policy terms.
Does General Liability Cover Trademark Infringement?
Usually not broadly. The standard Coverage B IP exclusion includes trademark infringement, with only a limited exception for certain infringement in an advertisement.
Does General Liability Cover Vendors?
Only if the vendor or business qualifies as an insured under the policy or is added by the required endorsement. A vendor’s own liability remains governed by its separate policy.
Does General Liability Cover Volunteers?
Possibly, when a volunteer meets the policy’s definition of an insured and the claim otherwise falls within coverage. Check the organization’s form and volunteer-specific endorsements.
Does General Liability Cover Water Damage?
Potentially, if your business is legally liable for accidental water damage to another party’s property and no exclusion applies. Damage to your own property is a separate property-insurance question.
Does General Liability Cover Work From Home?
It can cover certain third-party liability from business operations at a home, but it does not automatically insure the home, personal belongings, or employee injuries.
Does General Liability Cover Wrongful Termination?
Generally no. Wrongful-termination allegations are employment-practices claims; check a separate EPLI policy for its insureds, exclusions, defense terms, and limits.
What It Doesn’t Cover
Does General Liability Cover Auto Accidents?
Generally no. Standard CGL wording excludes many injury and property-damage claims arising from an auto’s ownership, maintenance, or use; review automobile coverage separately.
Does General Liability Cover Breach of Contract?
Usually not for a claim that you simply failed to perform a contract. A covered injury or property-damage claim may still be evaluated under the policy, subject to the contractual-liability exclusion and its exceptions.
Does General Liability Cover Copyright Infringement?
Sometimes, but only a narrow advertising-related exception may apply under standard Coverage B wording. Other copyright claims and exclusions require careful review.
Does General Liability Cover Cyber Attacks?
Generally not the core costs of a cyber incident. Standard CGL wording may exclude loss or damage to electronic data; cyber insurance addresses separate first-party and liability exposures.
Does General Liability Cover Discrimination?
Generally no. Employment discrimination claims arise from the employment relationship, not the ordinary third-party liability CGL covers; employment practices coverage may address specified claims.
Does General Liability Cover Employee Injuries?
Generally no. Standard CGL forms exclude many employee injury claims arising from employment; workers’ compensation and employers liability coverage address different parts of that exposure.
Does General Liability Cover Employee Theft?
Usually not. Theft by an employee is a first-party crime loss, not ordinary CGL liability to another party; employee-dishonesty coverage may address it under separate terms.
Does General Liability Cover Faulty Workmanship?
Usually not the cost to correct your own faulty work. CGL may apply to resulting covered injury or damage to other property, subject to exclusions and exceptions.
Does General Liability Cover Liquor Liability?
Often not for injury or damage tied to serving or selling alcohol. Standard forms commonly exclude liquor liability, though limited exceptions or a separate liquor endorsement may be available.
Does General Liability Cover Pollution or Environmental Damage?
Often only narrowly, if at all. Standard CGL forms contain pollution exclusions; limited exceptions and endorsements vary, and businesses with meaningful exposure may need separate pollution liability insurance.
Does General Liability Cover Privacy Violations?
Sometimes for a narrowly defined invasion-of-privacy offense under Coverage B, but many data privacy, security, and regulatory claims need separate cyber coverage.
Does General Liability Cover Product Recall?
Usually not the cost of withdrawing, inspecting, repairing, replacing, or disposing of your product. Recall expense protection is a separate coverage to evaluate.
Does General Liability Cover Professional Negligence and Errors and Omissions?
Generally no for claims based on professional advice, design, or services. Professional liability or E&O is designed for that exposure, while CGL usually addresses nonprofessional injury and property-damage liability.
Does General Liability Cover Workers’ Compensation?
No. Workers’ compensation is a separate coverage line for work-related employee injuries, with state-specific rules; CGL generally excludes those employment injuries.
Related Coverage
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