What is General Liability Insurance Coverage?

General Liability Insurance coverage (GL) helps protect your business from property damage claims, bodily injury claims and personal and advertising injury claims that could put your business assets at risk.

Commercial General Liability insurance (CGL), also known as Business Liability Insurance or General Liability Insurance provides coverage for customer injuries, damage to others’ property, and lawsuits. It can help pay for medical expenses as well as legal costs if an incident leads to a lawsuit.

What does Commercial General Liability Insurance cover?

Commercial General Liability insurance helps protect businesses and their employees from the risk of lawsuits involving claims of bodily injury, property damage, libel, slander, false advertising and more.

For example, Commercial Liability Insurance coverage can help cover the costs related to claims of:

• Bodily injury or property damage– for claims that your business caused someone bodily harm or damaged someone’s property.
• Reputational harm– for claims of malicious prosecution, libel, slander, wrongful eviction, violation of the right of privacy and more.
• Advertising errors– for claims of false advertising or copyright infringement in your advertisements.
• Medical payments– to help cover medical costs if someone sustains an injury at your business.
• Damage to rented property– if property you rent is damaged by fire, lightning or explosion.

How much does General Liability Insurance cost?

The cost of a General Liability (GL) policy premium varies widely depending on the business. Several factors are utilized in the calculations that ultimately determine a business’s GL policy premium. These factors include the type of business – as you would imagine, companies in higher risk industries are charged higher premiums than lower risk businesses.

Other factors that figure into a premium rate calculation include the years of business experience in the industry, where more experience may equate to lower rates; and the location, size and condition of your business premises. Your insurance claims history is also a factor considered by insurance companies.