Frequent Asked Questions

You will find definitions of certain types of claims on the Business Owners and Employment Practices Liability sections. Additionally, the Advertising Agency Liability section provides definitions and examples of relevant insurance coverages.

Property insurance protects your buildings and equipment, stock, furniture and fixtures. Some policies include equipment breakdown and business income coverage. Basic property insurance will generally cover your business for losses in the event of a fire or lightning strike and will pay the cost of removing property to protect it from further loss. Additionally, a standard small business insurance policy will usually cover losses from windstorm, hail, explosion, riot and civil commotion and damage caused by aircraft, automobiles or vandalism.

Property insurance can be purchased on the basis of the property’s actual value (the replacement cost minus depreciation); its replacement value (the cost of replacing the item without deducting for depreciation); or an agreed-upon amount.

There are many different types of third-party liabilities to be covered for a business. Business liability insurance may protect you from claims arising from someone’s bodily or personal injuries. Other items that could be covered are damage to the property of others, products-completed operations, advertising, premises operations, fire, legal liability and related legal defense costs. For instance, liability insurance will not only pay the cost of covered damages but also the attorney fees and other costs associated with your defense.

This refers to the injury, sickness, disease, or even death, of any person that occurs during the policy period.

While claims-made coverage applies to a claim which is made during the policy period, prior acts coverage offers protection for wrongful acts that happened before the inception date of an insurance policy…but have yet to become known. For example, a buyer of E&O insurance may want to extend coverage for a period of time prior to when the coverage becomes effective…just in case.

A policy designed to provide protection against catastrophic losses, the umbrella insurance policy is generally written over various primary liability policies, such as a general liability insurance policy and an employment practices liability coverage. Once the underlying limits of these primary policies are exhausted, the umbrella liability policy would provide further coverage beyond the limits of those policies.