Property and Casualty Insurance
BUSINESSOWNER POLICY
Businessowners (BOP) policies combine protection of all major property and liability risks in one package. BOP policies are created for businesses that generally face the same kind and degree of risk. They include property insurance for buildings and contents owned by the company, business interruption, and liability protection.
BUSINESS PROPERTY
Commercial Property Insurance
Property insurance protects your business against physical damage to, or loss of your assets. Assets, broadly defined, may include the building in which your business operates, the property housed there, and you loss of income. In the case of catastrophes like fire, explosion, theft, or vandalism, property insurance helps cover your costs – whether it’s to repair damaged property or replace what is lost.
Boiler, Machinery and Equipment
Losses due to the failure or breakdown of a boiler, machinery, heating, cooling, and electrical equipment can be extended to also include consequential and business interruption losses. Insurance benefits are provided up to the limit per accident in the following order: 1. all property of the insured that is directly damaged by the accident; 2. reasonable costs of temporary repairs and expediting expenses; 3. liability for damage to property of others.
Builders Risk
Builders’ Risk policies cover buildings or structures during the construction, renovation, or repair process. While coverage is often tailored to meet the needs of each customer, the vast majority of policies also cover building materials destined to become a permanent part of the building or structure. This property is covered while in transit, at temporary storage locations, and while stored at the job site.
Any business entity with a financial interest in property under construction, renovation, or repair needs Builders’ Risk insurance. Builders’ Risk policies and coverages are an important insurance product within the construction industry because the vast majority of banks and lenders require evidence of Builders’ Risk insurance.
Inland Marine
These are coverages for property that may involve an element of transportation. The property may be in transit, held by a bailee, at a fixed location that is an instrument of transportation, or be a movable type of goods that are often at different locations. The policy covers any goods in transit anywhere except on the high seas.
Cargo and Transit
Provides coverage for ocean, air, or ground transportation exposures; goods or cargo, earnings (such as freight, passage money, commissions, or profit), and liability (known as protection and indemnity).
BUSINESS LIABILITY
Commercial General Liability
General Liability coverage pays losses and legal defense arising from real or alleged bodily injury, property damage, personal injury on your business premises or arising from your operations, products or services.
Umbrella Liability
A special liability policy that serves three main functions: provide high excess coverage over a primary or underlying liability policy; provide broader coverages than the primary liability policy, usually excess of a self-insured retention, and provide a drop-down feature that automatically replaces coverage provided by underlying policies when they are reduced or exhausted by losses.
Professional Liability
Professional liability protects business owners against financial losses from lawsuits filed against them by their clients for injury or loss arising from negligence or malfeasance in rendering professional services. When liability is limited to acts of negligence, professional liability insurance may be called “errors and omissions” liability.
Directors and Officers Liability
A specialized form of professional liability coverage for legal expenses and liability to shareholders, bondholders, creditors or others due to actions or omissions of directors and/or officers of a corporation, whether public or private, or nonprofit organization. Directors and officers are not liable for an honest mistake of business judgment made with reasonable prudence or care that results in a financial loss, but officers and directors are held personally liable for actions or omissions made with negligence, recklessness, or bad faith.
Employment Practices Liability (EPLI)
EPLI covers businesses against claims by workers that their legal rights as employees of the company have been violated. EPLI provides protection against many kinds of employee lawsuits, including claims of Sexual harassment, Discrimination, Wrongful termination, Breach of employment contract, Negligent evaluation, Failure to employ or promote, Wrongful discipline, Deprivation of career opportunity, Wrongful infliction of emotional distress, and Mismanagement of employee benefit plans.
The number of lawsuits filed by employees against their employers has been rising. While most suits are filed against large corporations, no company is immune to such lawsuits. Recognizing that smaller companies now need this kind of protection, some insurers provide this coverage by an additional endorsement to their Businessowners Policy (BOP). Other companies offer EPLI as a stand-alone coverage. The cost of EPLI coverage depends on your type of business, the number of employees you have and various risk factors such as whether your company has been sued over employment practices in the past.
Errors and Omissions Liability
This is coverage for damages arising out of the insured’s negligence, mistakes, or failure to take appropriate action in the performance of business or professional duties.
Liquor Liability
Liquor liability insurance provides coverage for bodily injury or property damage for which an insured may be held liable by reason of the following: Causing or contributing to the intoxication of any person, Furnishing alcoholic beverages to a person under the legal drinking age or under the influence of alcohol, or Violating any statute, ordinance, or regulation relating to the sale, gift, distribution, or use of alcoholic beverages.