Villages Professional Liability

Do you have a professional liability exposure? Many people think that professional liability or errors & omissions insurance only applies to "professionals", like doctor's, lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, etc.

However, many "non professional" type businesses including Villages due have an exposure to professional liability.

The combination of General Liability + Professional Liability is a vital combination of liability coverage needed to protect your Village.

General Liability covers allegations of bodily and physical injury or
property damage while Professional Liability protects you from claims of negligence
or failure to perform professional duties.

Professional liability coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder. These are causes for legal action that would not be covered by a general liability insurance policy which addresses more direct forms of harm. Professional liability coverage will also provide for the defense costs, including when a legal action turns out to be groundless.

Below is the definition of a "Professional incident" under the Philadelphia Insurance Policy.

“Professional incident” means any actual or alleged
negligent: 
a.  Act; 
b.  Error; or
c.  Omission
in the actual rendering of professional services to
others, including counseling services, in your
capacity as a human services organization. 
Professional services include the furnishing of
food, beverages, medications or appliances in
connection therewith.

Any or all “professional incidents” arising from
interrelated or series of acts, errors or omissions shall
be deemed to be one “professional incident” taking
place at the time of the earliest “professional incident”.

As you can see, counseling, is a professional liability exposure. Now many people may interpret counseling to be different things. Do you advise or counsel on items your members should have in their home? What other type of advice or services are you providing that may fall under professional liability? Here is an example of a professional liability claim, that you might not think of as professional liability: 

Professional Liability Claim Scenario:
A Village schedules a volunteer to pick up a member and take them to the doctor where the member may be issued a prescription.  The volunteer runs late which causes the member to miss their doctor’s appointment and the member does not get the prescription.  Later that evening the member is admitted to the hospital because she/he did not have their prescription.

Member or family of Member sues your Village. This type of claim is not covered by your auto liability or general liability coverage but by professional liability coverage.

- Defense costs could easily be - $50,000 or more
- Settlement Cost could also be significant depending on the seriousness of the complications from the member admitted to the hospital.

The above claim scenario is an actual claim that occurred to a non-profit providing similar services as the Villages using volunteers. That is why Professional Liability coverage is mandatory for you to include on your policies.

The above descriptions of coverage are intended to be an overview only.  They are not binding. Only the actual insurance policies when issued will determine what coverages are provided and excluded by the insurance carriers.