Does My Business Need OR 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 Oregon general liability insurance policy would provide defense costs for a covered claim and pay damages if the business is found legally liable.
What Does Oregon 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 Oregon 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 Oregon General Liability Insurance Cost?
How much does Oregon 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
- OR business location
- Years in business
- Business experience
- Annual payroll
- Annual revenue
- History of claims
Further Reading On Commercial General Liability Insurance
OR General Liability Insurance Quotes
Request a Oregon General Liability Insurance quote in Albany, Ashland, Baker City, Beaverton, Bend, Canby, Central Point, Coos Bay, Cornelius, Corvallis, Cottage Grove, Dallas, Damascus, Eugene, Forest Grove, Gladstone, Grants Pass, Gresham, Happy Valley, Hermiston, Hillsboro, Keizer, Klamath Falls, La Grande, Lake Oswego, Lebanon, McMinnville, Medford, Milwaukie, Monmouth, Newberg, Newport, North Bend, Ontario, Oregon City, Pendleton, Portland, Redmond, Roseburg, Salem, Sandy, Sherwood, Springfield, St. Helens, The Dalles, Tigard, Troutdale, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, Woodburn and all other cities in OR.
Insurance Regulations In Oregon
Let's take a look at insurance in Oregon. There are definitely some state regulations that govern insurance in the state of Oregon. You should become familiar with what these regulations are, even if they do not necessarily apply to you.
You will be much better informed about insurance if you know what types of insurance businesses are required by law and what types they normally get regardless of law. You also may want to know the regulations governing personal insurance such as automobile insurance and life insurance. Let's take a closer look at OR insurance regulations.
Oregon Business Insurance
The first type of insurance that we will start with is business insurance. Specifically, we will be discussing general liability insurance. Commercial liability, sometimes called general liability, is a type of insurance that protects your business in case someone slips and falls on your floor or experiences roofing materials falling on their car that does damage. There are many other situations in which general liability insurance may kick in.
There are also some types of insurance that are mandated by law including Worker's Compensation insurance for any company that has one or more people working for them full-time or part-time.
Oregon does not have any laws stipulating that companies must carry disability insurance like in many states, but if there are vehicles being used for commercial purposes, then they must carry commercial auto insurance.
OR Personal Insurance
There are definitely some regulations that govern the auto insurance that normal motorists are required to carry on their vehicle. These are pretty standard across the states and match what is required in most. In Oregon, you are required to carry 25 000 USD per person for bodily injury and 50 000 USD per accident for the same. Property damage is a little higher than you will find in other states at 20 000 USD per accident and there is also an additional requirement that requires a personal injury protection amount of 15 000 USD per person.
Finally, there are regulations governing life insurance in Oregon as well. Unlike most states, there is no free look period for life insurance. However, there is the normal grace period Of 30 days when it comes to late payments. Lastly, insurance companies are required to make payment within 30 days of receiving notification of the death described in the policy. If they do not make payment within 30 days then the person that is the beneficiary of the policy may receive interest as well.