Professional Liability Insurance Covers

Imagine it’s a normal day, you’re at work and suddenly an envelope appears on your desk.

You’ve been slapped with a lawsuit because your client sued you on part of your negligence. What made the client go that far? Whatever it was, you’ve been subpoenaed. And let’s face it, you can’t afford to hire a lawyer.

Hiring a lawyer is super expensive especially when you don’t know how a courtroom works.

But what if i told you that you had a way of getting away with this financially stressful situation because you won’t have to pay a penny? That’s right! You can get yourself insured.

A professional liability insurance is your answer to avoid yourself from getting dragged into a legal situation like this one.

Professional Liability Insurance Meaning

By definition, professional liability insurance means that when a client sues you or your business because they weren’t satisfied with the services- of course on part of your own negligence- this PLI basically helps you cover all the legal costs and procedures.

Professional Liability Insurance Covers

There are only a certain types of liabilities that are covered under the professional liability insurance such as:

• Rookie mistakes and errors: If your company has made a rookie mistake and your client ended up losing a huge chunk of money, they could sue you for losses. To counter this lawsuit, the money and assistance you will be needing will be covered under the insurance policy.
• Undelivered services: If your company had promised to get something done by a certain date, and you failed to do that resulting in major financial troubles, the client could file you with a lawsuit. The insurance will cover all legal costs including hiring a lawyer.
• Missing deadlines: Deadlines are an important part of the professional world, even a slightest delay in deadlines could create a lot of problems for someone. If an employee from your company fails to do some tax-filings for the client and in turn the client is fined, the client could very well sue you for this, and the professional liability insurance will cover everything for the employee.
• Negligence on your part: If you’re not careful and you are negligent for even a second, you could be slapped with a lawsuit. Clients can sue you for negligence if your product doesn’t match market standards or there have been any other errors from your side. In such a case you do need an insurance company to protect all costs.

Professional Liability Insurance for Different Professions

Professional Liability Insurance for Social Workers

Social work is one of the most demanding professions, physically and mentally too. Having to interact with a lot of different people of different mindsets is actually very tough. In such a case if a client sues you for malpractice, you need to have a contingency plan in action: professional liability insurance!

You can’t please everyone, and afterall you’re also human, bound to make mistakes. With the help of this coverage you can easily have financial support to get rid of the claims legally, because without this insurance you can spend years defending yourself- and still lose- if you don’t have enough resources.

NASW-Endorsed Professional Liability Insurance Program is a program that specifically handles social workers and their legal rights if they are sued for malpractice.

Professional Liability Insurance Pharmacist

As a pharmacist you have a stressful job; you literally handle people’s lives. In such a case even the slightest mistake can cause a patient to die or get more sick or even paralyzed for life.

We know you did your best, but maybe even the slightest amount of negligence can have the patient or their family sue you for malpractice. This could in turn affect your licensing and practice!

The professional liability insurance can give you the financial support to bounce back from all these losses and legal pressures.

The HPSO Program specializes in giving pharmacists coverage against claims of malpractice. It includes:

• Coverage for up to $1 million for each claim during the life of the policy
• License protection of up to $25,000 in annual aggregate
• Defendant expense benefit of up to $25,000
• Deposition representation of up to $10,000- this is in case a lawsuit requires your

testimony only

• Provides defense attorney
• Assault coverage of up to $25,000- this is if you faced violence during work or on your way to/from work, the insurance will cover medical expenses for you.
• Personal injury coverage
• Medical payments
• Damage to others property of up to $10,000- this is if you unintentionally cause harm to someone else’s property while at work.
• Sexual harassment of up to $25,000- if you have allegations of sexual abuse against you.

Professional Liability Insurance Physical Therapy

No matter how amazing at the job, a physical therapist can also be charged with a lawsuit of malpractice. A professional liability insurance covers any legal defense costs that come with it.

HPSO provides the same amount of protection to physical therapists as they do to pharmacists: coverage of up to $1 million, license protection, personal liability coverage, provision of a defense attorney etc.

It is important for physical therapists to be protected under this set of insurance because not only will it be costly to detangle out of a lawsuit, but it could also negatively affect your license and practice. To avoid all these complications, you need to hire a lawyer and all of the assistance will be given to you under the professional liability insurance.

Professional Liability Insurance for Teachers

Teachers can be sued for malpractice: anything that happened under the teacher’s supervision will be counted as negligence! And this could be as severe as serving the teacher with a court order.

Having a professional liability insurance for teachers will help you cover costs. These are incidents of malpractice that will be considered under the insurance:

• Student injuries under the teacher’s supervision
• Lack of quality teaching
• Recruiting unqualified people
• Physical or sexual abuse
• Invading students’ privacy

Usually teachers are covered for $1 million dollars and premiums usually start from $99 annually.

Professional Liability Insurance Students

The same way that teachers can be accused of negligence, students can be too. Students can be charged with malpractice for violence within the school, abusing or sexually harassing someone, allegations of abuse or slander can all be piled in a lawsuit and thrown towards a student.

It is possible for students to file for insurance that covers all financial costs related with a legal lawsuit for malpractice. Insurance plans for students are very affordable, a total amount is usually $1,000,000 with premiums as low as $23 a year!

professional liability insurance for contractors

Contractors usually purchase this insurance type to avoid legal and financial complications that may be associated with their work. For instance if a building upon construction or the final product has some errors that were made by either the contractor himself, architects, or any other third party persons like vendors, clients could sue them for negligence.

Such mistakes actually cost clients a lot of money so they make sure that their losses are compensated by throwing a lawsuit at you. In such a case not only will you need financial assistance, but also a defense lawyer who can fight your case. And that will be done if you have insurance coverage!

The limit for such an insurance policy is from $2 million to $5 million with annual premiums from $400-$900.

Conclusion

Paying for legal fees and procedures can be very expensive, especially when you’re not prepared and a client sues you for malpractice. In such a case it is important for you to have professional liability insurance so that financial pressure is laid off of you. Make sure you are prompt in paying your premiums each month or year so that your policy is in force.