Advertising and personal injury: Your intentional acts protection

The virtual world surrounding today’s marketplace creates a breeding ground of risks to which your business could be susceptible. Fortunately, there’s coverage available to protect you from these risk: Coverage B, or Personal and Advertising Injury Liability Insurance.

Coverage B covers an act that somehow violates or infringes on the rights of others, and for the most part involves intentional acts.
Wait … Did we just say that insurance covers intentional acts? Yes we did. Normally, insurance policies primarily cover accidents, but this is where Coverage B shines as an asset to your business.

Coverage B protects a business from claims that arise out of a violation of a person’s legally protected right, and that violation and infringement may result in a loss to the individual. When these claims happen, the law often provides monetary damages as a relief for the wronged individual. Coverage B can help ease the financial burden of these claims. However, since persons and organizations have numerous rights that are legally protected, Coverage B is limited to only specific events listed in the policy.

So what does Coverage B actually cover? It provides coverage if the following offenses arise out of the business of the named insured:

• false arrest, detention or imprisonment, which is the unjustified keeping of someone against their will or unjustified forcible restraint;
• malicious prosecution, which includes instituting any legal proceeding without probable cause or proper cause;
• wrongful eviction, wrongful entry or invasion of the right to privately occupy a premises;
• oral or written publication of any material that slanders or libels another person or organization, or disparages their goods, products or services;
• any oral or written publication that violates a person’s right to privacy, which applies to securing medical records, financial information and social security information;
• the use of another’s advertising idea in your own advertisement; or
• infringing upon another’s copyright, trade dress or slogan in your advertisement.

While this is just a brief outline of the coverages afforded by Coverage B, it is more complex than it seems and is subject to multiple exclusions. To learn more about Advertising and Personal Injury Liability Coverage, give our agency a call. We will gladly explain all the coverages and exclusions, and how they will affect your business.