Casualty Insurance

Commercial insurance is often referred to as property and casualty insurance. Property insurance covers physical property including buildings, contents, and equipment. Casualty insurance is coverage to protect you and your organization from liability resulting from damage you cause to property or injuries you cause to people.

What Types of Casualty Insurance Are There?

The most basic type of commercial casualty insurance policy is a called a general liability policy. This type of policy provides liability coverage for:

• Personal and advertising injury – Protects against libel, slander, disparagement or copyright infringement made by you or your staff during the course of business
• Defense Costs – Provides coverage for attorney fees and legal expenses resulting from liability claims and lawsuits brought against your business regardless of if you are at fault
• Medical Expenses – Provides coverage for a third party’s medical expenses if they are injured on your property or by your products.
• Premises and Operations Liability – Provides coverage for a third party’s bodily injury occurring on your property. Also provides coverage for property damage caused to a third party while on your premises or in conjunction with your business operations.
• Products Liability – Provides coverage for injuries and property damage sustained by third parties as a result of your products.

There are a number of other types of casualty insurance policies that can include professional liability, abuse and molestation liability, auto liability, employment practices liability, D&O liability, and cyber liability.

How Much Coverage Do I Need?

The standard commercial general liability policy typically provides a $1,000,000 limit per claim and $2,000,000 or $3,000,000 limits for all general liability claims in one policy year. Some base general liability policies offer higher limits per claim (such as $2 million) and per policy year (such as $4,000,000). If you need additional limits, these are typically secured through umbrella liability policies. Each organization and business is unique and has unique needs. We recommend reaching out to Simpson & McCrady if you are seeking guidance on how much coverage you need or what type of coverage you need.

Have any questions or want to discuss casualty insurance in more detail? Let’s chat!