Professional Indemnity Insurance (Liability Insurance): What It Is, Why You Need It, How To Get It

Professional Indemnity Insurance (PI Insurance), is a type of insurance that indemnifies a professional firm – which could be anything from a large corporation, to a small business, or even a single freelancer – from lawsuits due to negligence. This type of insurance comes in many forms and covers a wide breadth of professionals from doctors to lawyers to contractors, etc.

Professional Indemnity Insurance and Professional Liability Insurance are effectively the same thing. For example when a doctor pays for medical malpractice insurance, they are paying for a type of insurance that will indemnify them from (almost) any harm that may come to one of their patients due to alleged negligence on the part of the doctor. If a doctor did not carry this type of indemnification then they would be leaving themselves exposed to a limitless amount of lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise, that would quickly leave them out of a job and likely out of their home as well.

Without Professional Indemnity Insurance any liability for any alleged harm brought about by their actions will fall squarely on their head without any recourse of protective action that they can fall back on. One of the salient points to keep in mind here is that in a civil court of law the burden of proof the accuser must bring to court to win a case is far lighter than what is required to win a criminal case. Because of this it is highly likely that the accuser will win a summary judgement on relatively light or inconsequential evidence. This is one of the reasons that out of court settlements are so common. More importantly it demonstrates why any professional should carry some level of indemnity insurance. Without it, the professional will have no protection from even the most frivolous of lawsuits.

More often than not Professional Indemnity Insurance is becoming required by law for many professional to carry. This is considered a protection for both the clients of the professionals as well as for the professionals themselves. When a client knows that that professional they hired is covered by insurance they also know that if something goes wrong (i.e. negligence) that a method is in place for them (the client) to have their grievance addressed (via monetary compensation).

The cost of carrying Professional Indemnity Insurance varies quite a bit depending upon the profession in question. Doctors for example usually will need to carry a much hirer degree of indemnity insurance than other types of professional due to the inherent risks in the work that they do – because of these risks the cost of carrying this insurance is relatively high.

If you believe you are in need of Professional Indemnity Insurance, or if you have more questions about it, then the best thing for you to do would be to contact an insurance broker in order to get quotes and information that is more specific to your exact needs.

 

For Assistance In Finding The Professional Indemnity Insurance That Is Right For You Please Contact Us At piinsurance@pccmc.org! Leave your name, type of business you are in and your location. Thank you.

 

 

Professional Liability Insurance Explained

The simplest way to think of Professional Liability Insurance is as a shield a professional, such as a doctor or lawyer, would employ to protect them from being directly financially liable for damages recieved by their client, patient, or customer, as a result of malpractice (i.e. negligence) on the part of the professional.
In other words it indemnifies them from liability. You may have also heard of this type of insurance referred to as professional indemnity insurance or malpractice insurance.There are a wide variety of reasons why you would want to retain this insurance if you were a professional. For some they have no choice in the matter. A good example of this would be a doctor. If they want to practice their craft they must by law carry a given amount of liability insurance. The purpose of this law is multi-purposed. First of all it builds trust in the population that they can expect to be treated fairly by their doctor. In other words in boosts the confidence that people have in such a pivotal profession. The second reason behind a law requiring doctors and some others to carry professional liability insurance is to protect the consumer.For example if you sought legal council and found that the lawyer was actively giving you bad advice that ultimately led to you being damaged in some capacity, you could seek financial reparations from the lawyers insurers. If your attorney did not carry this insurance at all then you could go after their personal finances, however, if they have no assets that are garnishable, or the amount of damages that you are seeking exceeds what they can payout then you (as the victim) could end up getting nothing. The final reason behind a law of this type is to protect the professional themselves.

It certainly is not uncommon in this day and age for our civil justice system to be wrought with fraud and frivolous lawsuits. This leaves the professional right in the cross hairs of any fraud out to make a quick buck. Professional Liability Insurance makes sure that the professional will not be left out of house, home and a job. By insuring that if a frivolous lawsuit does manage to make its way through the courts they will not be stuck footing a bill that they cannot afford to pay.

Professional Liability Insurance is something that professionals of all types should considering purchasing for the basic protections that it will afford them.

 

For Assistance In Finding The Professional Liability Insurance That Is Right For You Please Contact Us At plinsurance@pccmc.org! Leave your name, type of business you are in and your location. Thank you.

Public Liability Insurance: What Is It?

Public Liability Insurance is a type of insurance that virtually all businesses should at the minimum. Effectively what it does is protect a business against damages (usually financial) sought by a plaintiff due to an injury that took place at the businesses property, or occurred as a result of some other negligence (real or perceived) on the part of the business.

 

Here is an example:

 

A person is shopping at their local mall and slips on a drink that was spilled in the malls food court. The person then turn around and sued the mall for medical injuries as well as pain and suffering.

 

In this case what Public Liability Insurance does (PLI) is pay the damages on behalf of the mall, thus protecting the business from having to dig into its own financial resources to pay the bill. Damages could be as little as $1000 or less or could range up into 6 or even 7 figures. Public Liability Insurance is similar in essence to Professional Indemnity Insurance.

One important note to understand about this type of insurance is that it is not all encompassing in and of itself. In fact it is minimum amount of liability insurance that a business could carry and is only effective in situations where the public is involved.

For example let’s say the situation described above did not involve a shopper, but instead happened to a person that was an employee of the mall. The employee could turn around and sue the mall for damages, but unless the mall had paid for additional insurance they (the mall) would not be covered by the public liability insurance and would be responsible for paying the damages out of their own pockets. In situations where the damages being sought are minimal this may not be a huge concern, but considering how litigious of a society we are it is not beyond the pale to think that even in the most basic of cases damage claims could easily range into the high six figures if not more.

Another aspect of Public Liability Insurance to keep in mind is that it always has a cap. Once that amount has been reached then the business (unless they have other sources of insurance to rely upon) will be responsible for paying the damages that are beyond the cap. It is not uncommon for the amount of PLI insurance that a business can afford to carry to be below the amount that actually should carry given the type of business that they are in. In cases like this there are usually other types of insurance that a business can leverage to make sure that they are fully protected.

For Assistance In Finding The Public Liability Insurance
That Is Right For You Please Contact Us At plinsurance@pccmc.org! Leave your name, type of business you are in and your location. Thank you.