Understanding Limits

What is Not Covered

What is covered under your liability policy is a function of the substantive state law of your state. One state's courts may rule that a liability policy covers a particular occurrence, while a neighboring state rules it does not. There are some types of occurrences that are not covered and are excluded from the definition of occurrence across all liability policies:

Injury to a Worker- Workers are covered by workers’ compensation insurance and workers are not “third-parties” and, therefore, worker injury is not covered.

Automobile Liability – Damage or loss caused by a company vehicle is covered by a commercial auto policy specifically sold separately from the liability policy.

Damage to Business Property – Damage to business property or location is covered by your property and casualty insurance and your business is the “first-party” and liability coverage only applies to third-party claims.

Pollution – Most liability policies do not cover pollution. If your business will or can harm the environment, then you will need a separate policy or a pollution endorsement.

Products Completed Coverage – Liability policies do cover loss or damage caused by a completed product or service in most cases as long as there is a products-completed operations clause in the policy. Liability policies do not cover loss or damage due to the costs associated with the removal of a product or a recall of the product. There is separate coverage for that situation called product withdrawal coverage.

There are two types of limits in a standard liability policy:

Single Occurrence Limit – This is the limit the insurer will pay on one occurrence.

Aggregate Limit – This is the maximum amount the insurer will pay during any policy period for all of the occurrences in the policy period. Generally, this is two times the single occurrence limit.

Insurers have two duties in the event of a claim. The insurer has a duty to defend your company and a duty to indemnify. Indemnify means to pay the claimed loss. The duty to defend your company is the duty of the insurer to pay for your legal representation and all associated costs.

The limits in your policy may be inclusive of defense costs or defense costs may be outside of limits. You want to have a clear understanding of how your policy works. If you have a $500,000 single limit and that amount is to include defense costs, then your limit could be substantially reduced by the costs and fees associated with your defense.

Keep in mind that your aggregate limit is your total amount of insurance for the policy period. You will want this number to be a realistic reflection of your company's exposure to risk.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23