Business Liability Insurance
Coverage for Small Businesses
Fast quotes and niche insurance market access for small businesses owners.
Precision Coverage for Your Property, Your People, and Your Assets.
National scale insurance solutions delivered with the personal attention and care you deserve.
Even though having a good liability risk management program in place can somewhat reduce the chances that your business will be sued, it can never eliminate the risk entirely. You or an employee of your business might make a mistake that injures someone or damages property. Your mistake could harm the reputation or invade the privacy of a customer, client, competitor or member of the general public. In that event, you may be legally liable to pay damages to the person or business who suffered a loss due to your actions or infraction.
Depending on the degree of harm and the number of people injured and/or the value of property damaged, a lawsuit could bankrupt your business. Even if your business is ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, a determined plaintiff can keep you tied up in legal proceedings for a long time, at significant cost, defending yourself and your business. Commercial liability insurance pays the cost of your defense and protects your assets.
Protecting Your Small Business
Our program covers:
Coverage for Private Companies for: D&O; EPLI; Fiduciary: Misc. E&O Private Choice Encore (PE 00H012 00 0502) contains some of the most sought after coverage features in the industry. Highlights include:
- Flexibility to elect between two, three or four coverage parts.
- Flexibility to purchase a separate limit for each coverage part or a single aggregate limit for all coverage parts.
- Flexibility to select amount of limit and retention for each coverage part.
Groundbreaking Claims Management Provisions:
- Optional defense costs outside the limit for all coverage parts (50% of limit) or
- No "Hammer Clause" for D&O, EPL and Fiduciary coverage parts.
More Key Features:
- Subsidiary coverage, subject to a 25% acquisition threshold.
- Worldwide coverage.
- No mandatory arbitration provision.
- Coverage for controlled joint ventures.
- Punitive and exemplary damages coverage (with "most favorable venue" provision).
D&O Coverage
- Derivative demand investigation costs coverage ($250,000 sublimit).
- $500,000 Side A reinstated limit for claims against managers (other than original claim), at no additional premium.
- Guaranteed IPO coverage quote.
- Optional entity coverage.
- Extended definition of claim.
- Generous carve-outs to the insured vs. insured exclusion.
- Final adjudication standard preserved in the fraud exclusion.
- Private placements of securities coverage with no reporting requirements.
- Waiver of the deductible for any claim that is finally resolved with no liability to the insureds.
Employee Practices Coverage
Definition of Employment Practices Wrongful Act includes:
- Wrongful dismissal, discharge or termination.
- Wrongful failure or refusal to hire or promote.
- Sexual or other workplace harassment.
- Employment discrimination.
- Invasion of privacy.
- Employment-related defamation.
- Retaliation.
Definition of Employee Includes:
- Temporary, seasonal or part-time.
- Leased or loaned employees.
- Volunteers.
First party Employment Practices Liability coverage for Independent Contractors as Insured Persons (to the extent the Company provides indemnification to such Independent Contractors)
More Key Employment Practices Liability Coverage Part Features:
- Optional third-party discrimination coverage.
- Audits by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs included in the definition of claim.
- No exclusion for fraudulent or criminal act or omission or willful violation of law.
- Waiver of the deductible for any class action that is finally resolved with no liability to the insureds.
Fiduciary Coverage
- Extended definition of claim (including fact-finding investigations by the Department of Labor or the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation).
- Coverage for certain percentages of ERISA section 502 (i) and 502 (l) penalties.
- Waiver of the deductible for any claim that is finally resolved with no liability to the insureds.
- Definition of "Insured Plan" includes:
- Government-mandated programs (except workers’ compensation).
- Employee welfare and pension benefit plans sponsored by the company (ESOP coverage available by endorsement).
- Non-ERISA plans sponsored by the company (including excess benefit plans).
Miscellaneous E&O Coverage
- Extended definition of claim (including written demands for monetary or non-monetary relief; civil proceedings; and written requests to toll or waive a statute of limitations).
- Professional services defined in schedule.
NOTE: Coverage is provided by The Hartford or an affiliated insurance company and may not be available in all states. For actual coverage wording, please see your policy. Hartford Financial Products is a department of The Hartford.
Custom Insurance Solutions for Businesses of All Sizes.
We specialize in insurance coverage designed for:
- Banks
- Carpet Cleaning
- Coffee Shops
- Commercial Buildings
- Day Care
- Deli Stores
- Dental Lab
- Florist
- Insurance Agency
- IT Consultants
- Law Office
- Mortgate Broker
- Real Estate Agency
- Retail Stores
- Strip Malls (Shopping Centers)
- Veterinarians
Everyone in the United States has a duty to take reasonable care that his or her actions do not injure others. The same rule applies to business communities. If you or your landlord fail to repair a pot hole in a parking lot, to replace broken office furniture, to train workers how to do their jobs safely and legally, or to provide directions for the safe use of a product, that can constitute negligence if a client, customer or member of the general public is injured as a result. The legal meaning of negligence is failure to exercise reasonable care.
If the parties involved do not agree to settle a liability lawsuit, there will be a trial. Or the parties may agree to use some alternative means of dispute resolution, such as arbitration, and to be bound by the arbitrator's ruling.
The state where the lawsuit is filed sets the rules for determining liability and damages. The amount of liability damages imposed in any particular case is, of course, in part a function of the economic losses the plaintiff can prove he or she has endured due to the defendant's negligence. In some states, plaintiffs may also be awarded damages for pain and suffering and other noneconomic losses.
For small businesses, the most efficient and least expensive way to purchase liability insurance is usually as part of a business owners' policy (BOP), which combines property and liability insurance in one contract. Alternatively, a business may purchase a commercial general liability (CGL) policy. We can help you decide which type of policy is best for you and your business.
Note: If you have employees and you do not have Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) coverage, you could have an exposure with no coverage. This coverage is excluded under most General Liability policies. You must carry Workers’ Compensation Insurance even on a part-time employee. If you use independent contractors you must obtain certificates of insurance from each company or person. If you fail to do this, you could have an exposure problem in the event of a claim. Remember it is your responsibility to read your policy carefully to make sure you are covered correctly.
Resources
Brochures
- Private Choice Encore! Brochure
- Management Liability Claim Scenarios Information
- Employment Practices Risk Management Information Sheet
- Directors & Officers Liability Insurance Brochure
- Fiduciary Liability Insurance Brochure
- Employment Practice Liability Insurance Brochure
- Crime Coverage Brochure
- Identity Theft Brochure
- Kidnap and Ramsom Insurance Brochure
- Management Liability Claim Scenarios Information
- Agency That Stands Out