Does My Business Need KY General Liability Insurance?
One of the most trying situations a business owner can face is liability claims for injury or damages to third party. Any business is exposed to bodily injury and property damage claims and the resulting litigation from the your business operations.
Legal fees and judgements can put small companies out of business. A Kentucky general liability insurance policy would provide defense costs for a covered claim and pay damages if the business is found legally liable.
What Does Kentucky General Liability Insurance Cover?
General liability is commercial coverage that is designed to provide financial protection for businesses from many types of risk exposures. A General liability insurance policy has 3 main parts of coverage; Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability (Coverage A), Personal and Advertising Injury (Coverage B) and Medical Payments (Coverage C). Following are some of the most important coverages:
- The cost of medical care claimed by the injured party. For example, if a customer slips and falls on your premises and requires medical treatment, your policy would cover the costs.
- Restitution for death and loss of services.
- Compensation for physical damage to other people’s property and loss of use of the same. Even if you’re careful it’s still a possibility that something your business does, or doesn’t do, could cause damage another person’s or businesses property.
- Compensation to consumers for loss on account of using company manufactured products and retribution for loss due to services rendered by the company. So if something your business manufactures or a service your company provides causes an injury, your policy can pay for any resulting damages including legal expenses.
- Contractual liability coverage for any liability is assumed by entering into contracts like lease agreements for the building, elevator maintenance agreements or indemnity agreements.
- Coverage for hired and non-owned autos. Hired would be liability coverage for rented vehicles and non-owned is if employees use their personal auto on company business – like running to the bank or office store for supplies.
- Liquor liability if you do not sell, serve, furnish, manufacture or distribute, alcoholic beverages , your general liability insurance policy will cover you if are held liable for a liquor-related incident.
- The costs of legal defense. These costs commonly include compensatory damages, nonmonetary losses suffered by the injured party, and punitive damages.
- Coverage for advertising injuries as a result of publishing inaccurate information.
- Protection for violation of someone’s right to privacy and infringing on another company’s copyright, title or slogan.
What Kentucky General Liability Insurance Doesn’t Cover
General liability typically does not cover:
- Professional mistakes – Only professional liability insurance (E&O) can cover lawsuits due to negligence and professional mistakes.
- Damage to your property – General liability only covers third-party property damage. You need business property cover yours.
- Employee injuries – CGL only covers non-employee bodily injuries. You will need workers compensation to cover employee injuries
- Employment disputes – Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI), not general liability, covers lawsuits if an employee sues over harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, and similar issues.
- Damage to your vehicles – Commercial auto will cover damages to your vehicles.
Claims-Made vs Occurrence
When buying commercial general liability it’s important know the difference between a claims-made or occurrence policy:
Claims-Made – Provides coverage over a specific time period, and only covers claims that are made during that time period – even if the claim happened at a different time. So if you had a policy that cancelled on January 1, 2020 – then a claim was filed on February 1, 2020 for an injury that happened on December 1st 2019 – you WOULD NOT have coverage.
Occurrence – This policy is different because it covers claims that occurred during a specified time period, and will not cover claims that occurred before the policy was effective. So if you had a policy that cancelled on January 1, 2020 – then a claim was filed on February 1, 2020 for an injury that happened on December 1st 2019 – you WOULD have coverage (if it wasn’t exlcuded from the policy).
How Much Does Kentucky General Liability Insurance Cost?
How much does Kentucky general liability insurance cost? The premiums vary depending on the amount of risk exposure, and it depends on the endorsements and deductible selected. Following are some of the main factors that go into the price of a policy:
- Type of business (contracting, service, retail etc.)
- General liability classification code
- KY business location
- Years in business
- Business experience
- Annual payroll
- Annual revenue
- History of claims
Further Reading On Commercial General Liability Insurance
KY General Liability Insurance Quotes
Request a Kentucky General Liability Insurance quote in Alexandria, Ashland, Ashton, Bardstown, Berea, Bowling Green, Burlington, Campbellsville, Covington, Danville, Edgewood, Elizabethtown, Erlanger, Fayette, Florence, Fort Knox, Fort Thomas, Francisville, Frankfort, Franklin, Georgetown, Glasgow, Henderson, Hopkinsville, Independence, Jeffersontown, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Louisville, Lyndon, Madisonville, Mayfield, Maysville, Middlesborough, Mount Washington, Murray, Newport, Nicholasville, Ownesboro, Paducah, Paris, Radcliff, Richmond, Shelbyville, Shepherdsville, Shively, Somerset, St. Matthews, Versailles, Winchester and all other cities in KY.
Kentucky Insurance Rules
In KY, there are some insurance regulations that you should be aware of before you start your business or even strike out on your adult life. We will be looking at both business and personal insurance, and the regulations that affect consumers that get these types of insurance. Let's look at personal and business insurance in greater detail according to the regulations in Kentucky.
KY Business Insurance
The first regulations to be aware of is the regulations governing business insurance in Kentucky. Like most states, Kentucky does not require businesses operating in the state to carry commercial liability insurance.
Kentucky is a pure comparative negligence state which means that the plaintiff can recover damages even if they are 99 percent at fault. There is also no personal injury in Kentucky and the statute of limitations is one year.
There are also some mandatory types of business insurance that are required in Kentucky. One type is required in almost all 50 states and is known as Worker's Compensation insurance. In Kentucky, if you have at least one full or part-time employee, then you're required to carry Worker's Compensation insurance. If you have a sole proprietorship where you are the only worker, then you're not required to carry.
You can contact the Kentucky Labor Cabinet to find out about exemptions. The only other type of mandated business insurance in Kentucky is commercial auto insurance if the vehicle is used regularly as part of the business.
Kentucky Personal Insurance
There are a couple of different types of personal insurance regulations that we will be covering. The first is auto insurance. In Kentucky, drivers are required to carry liability coverage that is 25 000 USD per person or 50 000 USD per accident as well as 10 000 USD for property damage. This is pretty much standard for auto insurance in most of the other states out there. Some are a little higher and some are lower.
There are also certain regulations governing life insurance in Kentucky. Life insurance is a regulated industry with the rules listed in Title 25 Chapter 304. One regulation is that Kentucky residents are permitted what is called a free look. That is available in almost every state. Illinois residents can have life insurance for 10 days and if at the end of those 10 days they have evaluated their policy and do not like it they can cancel for a full refund. In addition, Kentucky insurance companies must provide a grace period of 30 days.