Professional Liability Insurance
Increasingly, professionals and certain occupations need special insurance protection as they are targeted by lawsuits due to the high standard of accountability under which they operate.
In most instances, a general or commercial general liability policy will protect a business against damage or injury their actions may cause to others. However, this type of policy is designed to handle loss associated with fairly generic and low-risk activities. Examples are customers who cut their hands on a sharp edge of an office’s reception desk or a customer who is hurt when she collides with a clerk who is stocking a shelf. In other words, the protection has most to do with covering liability connected to losses that occur on the business premises.
As opposed to risks connected to a location, the liabilities faced by professionals are created precisely by the service they provide. Some professions that are prone to dealing with lawsuits include the following:
• Accountants
• Architects
• Beauticians
• Chefs
• Dentists
• Engineers
• Lawyers
• Media Services
• Nurses and Physicians (especially medical specialties)
• Public Servants
• Publishers
• Real Estate Agents
Reasons such persons are sued typically flow out of the following:
• Malpractice
• Breach of Contract
• Confidentiality Breaches
• Misleading Third Parties
• Negligence
• Failed Medical Procedures
• Food Poisoning