Professional Liability Insurance:
Glenn’s Insurance offers Professional Liability Insurance for several specialty professions. Below please find a detailed description of this type of coverage.First of all, let's take a moment to define what is meant by the term, "professional liability insurance." Simply stated, it insures a person and/or an entity (corporation, LLC, LLP, partnership, etc.) against claims made by third parties (clients, patients, customers, etc.), alleging negligence in the rendering of, or the failure to render, professional services. Exactly what constitutes "negligence" is often a bit ambiguous, but can be loosely defined as the failure to provide the degree of knowledge, care or skill of the average professional peer, in good standing, under similar circumstances. Essentially, anyone or any firm that holds themselves out as experts in a particular field can be held responsible for their work; their advice; their counsel.
Professional liability insurance is also often referred to as "errors & omissions" or "E&O" or "malpractice" insurance. These are just different ways of saying the same thing. So, for the sake of simplicity, we are going to refer to it as professional liability insurance, unless we are discussing an area that more commonly uses another term.
Historically, professional liability insurance was designed for what are often referred to as, "learned professions" – such as doctors, lawyers, CPA's, architects, engineers, etc. These are professions that require an advanced academic degree, licensing, etc. In recent years, however, the scope of professional liability coverage has broadened significantly, and now includes such things as business management or marketing consultants, technology consultants, software designers and engineers, Internet service providers, public relations, environmental consultants, all sorts of mental health or substance abuse counselors, and yes, insurance agents and brokers. The list, in fact, is virtually limitless, as just about anyone who claims to be an expert in ________________, and is compensated for his/her/their expertise, can be held liable in the event that things don't turn out as they should.