Such liability coverage is provided by a commercial general liability (CGL) policy, which protects a business and its interests from the vast majority of accidents and injuries that can arise as a result or consequence of running that business. Here’s a quick look at a few of the items that commercial general liability insurance covers.

Personal Injury: If someone who your business is personally liable for, be it an employee, a customer, or simply a civilian who is injured due to a disastrous accident caused by one of your business operations, then you could be held responsible for those injuries. Such accidents can lead to hefty medical expenses that your business will be expected to pay, which is where your commercial general liability policy comes into the picture. Your policy can pay damages related to injuries caused by your business operations, hopefully saving you a lot of money in legal fees.

Property Damage: Workplace or work site accidents don’t just result in physical injuries; on the contrary, they also can lead to fairly substantial property damage, whether to property you are renting or leasing (an office building or a piece of equipment) or to the belongings of customers or civilians that just happen to get caught in the crossfire. If the damaged property is something your business is legally liable for, then commercial general liability insurance can protect you, paying damages and reimbursing affected parties for their damaged property.

Legal Costs: One of the biggest benefits of commercial general liability insurance is that it can help you to finance legal defense costs if your business is sued over an issue of liability or negligence. Say a construction site of yours collapses, destroying surrounding buildings and vehicles, or say one of your employees physically harms a customer and then turns out to be a convicted felon. In both of these cases, the personal injury and property damage portions of your general liability insurance policy should cover any medical bills or replacement costs, but you can still be sued for negligence. Commercial general liability insurance helps you fight these lawsuits, whether or not the negligence claims are valid.

As you can see, most liability claims your business might come up against in the course of operation are covered by your general liability policy, but not all of them. The big exclusions are auto-related liability claims, which are covered instead by commercial auto insurance policies. To learn what else is and is not covered by your general liability policy, though, you will want to have a detailed discussion with your insurance representative, or sit down and read every word of your policy.

Need help putting together a commercial general liability insurance policy for your business? Contact Linares Insurance today to see what we can do for you and your company.