General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance protects your business from liability arising from negligence that causes injury to others, such as a customer or employee. It also protects your company if someone is injured as a result of using your product or service. This insurance is a must when you consider the legal expenses and settlement or judgment expenses of a single lawsuit that could drive your business into bankruptcy.

General liability insurance has two types of coverage forms: the "occurrence" form and the "claims-made" form. The "claims-made" form provides coverage only for losses that occur and claims that are reported during the policy period. This is a much more restricted coverage than an "occurrence" form policy. This is the reason that university contracts require three years "tail coverage" for claims-made policies. "Tail coverage" extends for three additional years the period during which claims can be made against a typical "claims-made" policy.

The Insurance Smith also provides primary general liability insurance for commercial and residential subcontractors, commercial general contractors, and residential homebuilders. This includes a wide range of contractors, such as highway and streets, water and sewer, gas and electric, plumbing and heating, painting paperhanging, masonry and stone work, plastering and drywalling, carpentry, floor installation, water well drilling, excavation and residential homebuilding.