Professionals with specific expertise in offering advice and services to their clients require liability insurance. When a client says you’re in the wrong—even if you’re in the right—the legal fees can be costly, and Professional Liability Insurance (PLI) is there to support you should a claim be made against you.
This type of liability insurance focuses on offering financial coverage to prevent you, as a professional, from bearing the full cost of defending against a lawsuit. It helps protect you and your business from various potential allegations, which primarily include negligence, malpractice, or misrepresentation.
The insurance industry classifies professionals into two categories: healthcare professionals and professionals who give advice or counsel. The former includes dentists, doctors, surgeons, and other professionals who deal with bodily injury and illness; the latter includes architects, IT consultants, photographers, and even insurance brokers.
No matter which category you fall under, the claims made against you will typically state one of two things: that the advice or service you provided caused financial harm to your client due to an alleged mistake (error), or because you failed to provide the advice or service agreed upon (considered an omission).
Any business that offers professional services, advice, recommendations, solutions, or otherwise represents the interests of its clients assumes risks and should have PLI. It provides coverage for many of the legal claims that are not under the umbrella of a General Liability Insurance policy. In the event of a lawsuit, PLI pays for the legal fees, damages awarded against you, and any other associated costs, such as supplementary expenses involved in your defense and lost wages if you need to take time off work to appear in court. In fact, these extra expenses are covered on top of whatever limit of insurance you have in place.
Our intuitive, proprietary platform lets you customize your policy with several options for limits, deductibles, and multiple types of insurance coverage. Or you can speak with one of our insurance advisors to determine which coverage and policy you need to best safeguard your practice. They’ll help you sort through all the details and create a package with the protection you need.