General Liability Medical Expenses
General Liability Medical Expenses
Every general liability policy includes a medical expenses section. What exactly does this section cover? As it has been established, general liability coverage is when a third-party claims you or your law firm was negligent for bodily injury or property damage and sues for those damages. General liability protects your law firm against incidents that may occur on your premises or at other covered locations where you normally conduct business. When you look at the declarations pages on your commercial general liability policy, it looks like this:
| BUSINESS LIABILITY | LIMITS OF INSURANCE |
| LIABILITY AND MEDICAL EXPENSES | $1,000,000 |
| MEDICAL EXPENSES – ANY ONE PERSON | $10,000 |
| PERSONAL AND ADVERTISING INJURY | $1,000,000 |
| DAMAGES TO PREMISES RENTED TO YOU | $300,000 |
| PRODUCTS-COMPLETED OPERATIONS AGGREGATE | $2,000,000 |
| GENERAL AGGREGATE | $2,000,000 |
Law firms often wonder what this coverage entails. Do they sometimes ask why this limit is so low in comparison to the other limits listed? “Medical expenses are costly; why only $10,000 limits here?” The answer to this question is, where liability coverage is for situations where a third-party claims your negligence for bodily injury or property damage, the medical payments coverage is an exception, as it pays medical expenses for bodily injury to third parties as a result of your operations regardless of fault.
People are less likely to sue you if they receive prompt medical payments to cover the costs of any injuries they have sustained, for which they could claim your law firm is liable. Medical Payments coverage gets them without filing a lawsuit or going to court and engaging in a lengthy claims process. This coverage also allows your insurer to pay small nuisance claims without the need for costly legal expenses.
If a liability claim and medical costs are paid, but a lawsuit still arises, general liability will still protect for a covered claim. The purpose of medical expense coverage, however, is to prevent this from happening.