Brian Cone on why commercial insurance is an out of home must.

Brian Cone, Vice President, The Cone Company

Brian Cone is Vice President of The Cone Company which provides out of home insurance.  Today Brian talks about which insurance is a must and what perils are covered by commercial liability insurance.  Tomorrow Brian talks about billboard replacement insurance and other kinds of coverage.  You can reach Brian at BCone@theconeco.com, 334-272-4791.

Brian why is insurance a must for an out of home company.

Most out of home companies purchase insurance to satisfy a condition in their contract with a lender or landlord, or both.  Landlords require General Liability coverage.  Banks require Inland Marine replacement insurance especially for digital billboards so that they know there will be money to replace their collateral if it is damaged.  In the rare case where landlords or lenders fail to ask for insurance, it still makes sense to buy insurance, expecially if you are a small company without the ability to fund a large claim or billboard replacement expense.

Talk about General Liability insurance and out of home.

The most important reasons to purchase a general liability policy are:

  • It pays up to $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate over a year for bodily injury to others or property damage that results from your premises, your work(your billboard), or your employees
  • The insurance company has a duty to provide legal defense for you when you are sued for any reason, barring a few exclusions. Many consider this to be where the most value in the policy is
  • The majority of landlord, lender, and some customer contracts require proof of GL coverage
  • General Liability insurance is inexpensive: $750 – $1500 annually.   Premiums are rated by the payroll allocated to each employee’s job function.

Unlike an Inland Marine policy that lists the covered perils, the GL policy makes a promise to pay for all bodily injury and property damage you, your employees, your billboard, or your premises cause. This highlights the wide variety of claims/lawsuits that can happen to any business owner. Anything from a slip and fall on your premises, to a panel falling in the street causing an accident, to a lawsuit brought against you because a driver claims your sign distracted him and caused him to wreck – these are all covered and a legal defense is provided, regardless of fault or negligence on your part.

The General Liability policy also covers you and your company for “personal and advertising injury”  which includes things like libel, slander, false arrest, detention, wrongful eviction, and malicious prosecution. Libel and Slander is sometimes excluded for companies in the Advertising Business.

What’s excluded from coverage?

Most exclusions on a General Liability policy can be covered by purchasing a separate kind of policy.   Here’s a list of common exclusions together with the type of insurance which covers that peril.

  • Bodily Injury to your Employee – Workers Compensation Policy
  • Injury or Damage from Automobile accidents – Commercial Auto Policy
  • Lawsuits by your employees for your wrongful employment acts(discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination) – Employment Practices Liability
  • Lawsuits by employees, competitors, vendors, or other for alleged wrongful acts(theft, fraud, etc.) in the course of managing the company – Directors and Officers Liability Policy
  • Lawsuits or damage caused by data breaches, hacking, etc. – Cyber Liability Policy
  • Lawsuits claiming damages due to professional negligence – Errors and Omissions Policy or for OA’s it is often called a Media and Advertising Liablity Policy.  We will cover this topic in a future article.

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