General Liability Insurance
General liability insurance is the foundation of any commercial insurance program. It protects your business from claims alleging that your operations, products, or premises caused bodily injury or property damage to a third party. Whether a customer slips and falls in your store, a contractor damages a client's property during a job, or a product you manufacture causes harm after it leaves your facility, general liability is the coverage designed to respond — paying your defense costs and any resulting damages up to the policy limits.
What General Liability Covers
A commercial general liability (CGL) policy is built around three primary insuring agreements:
- Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability — covers claims alleging that your business caused physical harm to a person or damaged property belonging to someone else. This includes injuries on your premises, damage caused by your work, and harm resulting from your products after they have been sold or distributed.
- Personal and Advertising Injury — covers claims alleging non-physical harm, including libel, slander, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, copyright infringement in advertising, and false arrest. These claims often arise from marketing activities, social media posts, or disputes with competitors.
- Medical Payments — pays medical expenses for individuals injured on your premises or as a result of your operations, regardless of fault. Medical payments coverage allows minor injury claims to be resolved quickly without requiring the injured party to establish negligence.
Products and Completed Operations Coverage
The products and completed operations portion of a CGL policy addresses two specific categories of exposure that are particularly important for manufacturers, contractors, and service businesses. Products liability covers bodily injury and property damage claims arising from goods your business manufactures, sells, or distributes after they have left your control. Completed operations coverage responds to claims arising from work you have finished — for example, a contractor whose completed installation later fails and causes damage. Both of these coverages are subject to their own aggregate limit in most standard CGL forms.
What General Liability Does Not Cover
Understanding the boundaries of a general liability policy is just as important as understanding what it covers. A standard CGL policy does not cover professional errors and omissions, employment-related claims, intentional acts, pollution, auto liability, workers' compensation obligations, or damage to your own property. Each of these gaps requires its own policy — which is why general liability is the starting point of an insurance program, not the entirety of it. We review your operations carefully to identify where the CGL ends and where other coverages need to begin.
Limits of Liability and Policy Structure
CGL policies are structured around several distinct limits that apply differently depending on the type of claim:
- Each Occurrence Limit — the maximum the policy will pay for all claims arising from a single occurrence
- General Aggregate Limit — the total the policy will pay for all covered claims during the policy period, excluding products and completed operations
- Products and Completed Operations Aggregate — a separate aggregate limit applying specifically to products and completed operations claims
- Personal and Advertising Injury Limit — the per-offense limit for personal and advertising injury claims
- Medical Payments Limit — a per-person limit for medical payments coverage
Additional Insureds and Certificate Requirements
Most commercial contracts, lease agreements, and construction subcontracts require businesses to extend additional insured status to other parties — typically property owners, general contractors, or clients — under their general liability policy. The terms of additional insured endorsements vary significantly between carriers and policy forms, and it is important to ensure that the endorsements in your policy actually satisfy the requirements of your contracts. We review your certificate and additional insured requirements as part of building your program.
Industry Considerations
General liability is required by law or contract in most commercial relationships, but the appropriate limits, endorsements, and policy structure vary significantly by industry and by the nature of your operations. A retail business has different liability exposures than a manufacturer, a contractor, a healthcare provider, or a technology company. The right general liability program is built around a thorough understanding of how your business operates, what risks it creates, and what your contractual obligations require. A consultation with Etowah Insurance Group is the right starting point for making sure your general liability coverage is structured to match your actual exposure.
