Business owners are exposed to wide variety of liability claims and it is necessary that they protect themselves and their businesses through an adequate liability insurance plan. With proper Liability insurance plan, you protect yourself and your business from potential and expensive lawsuits. While evaluating your liability insurance requirement, be thorough in your research and examine all eventualities that can stand you liable. Apart from general risks, analyze any special risks and/or situations that are specific to your business operation.

After determining the general and specific risks, choose a policy, which gives maximum coverage to yourself and your business. Liability insurance provides cover against damages that the insured causes to other persons in the form of injury or property damage. There are two types of liability policies:

Comprehensive General Liability Policy

Comprehensive general liability Policy offers a wider coverage against liabilities to your employee, customers or any other person who gets injured at your premises and/or property damage caused to them. Before purchasing the CLG, you must read and understand the entire terms and conditions of the policies, specially the exclusions enlisted in the policy.

Specialized Liability Policy:

In many cases it is recommended for small business owners to acquire specialized Liability Policies. Small business owner may need specialized plans of liability insurance in order to secure them from the areas that are not covered by the Comprehensive General Plan (CGL). Specialized liability policies include:

* Errors and omissions liability (or malpractice) policies
* Directors and officers liability policies
* Cyberspace liability insurance policies
* Automobile liability insurance

As soon as you hire your first employee, you need the protection of workers’ compensation insurance. Not only do many state laws require it, but also the financial security of your business depends on it.

What Workers’ Compensation Insurance Is?

In general, workers’ compensation represents a compromise between employers and employees regarding employment-related injuries or illnesses. In short, employees relinquish their right to sue employers if they suffer some job-related injury or illness. But in return, employers agree to provide state-mandated benefits if employees suffer some job-related injury or illness. And to ensure employees have the money to pay these mandated benefits, most states require that employers demonstrate that they have the financial ability to pay any claims that may arise. Typically this financial ability is demonstrated through the purchase of Workers’ Compensation insurance. Laws regarding workers’ compensation insurance vary by state, so check with your independent insurance agent or broker to find out exactly what you need and how it’s purchased.

How Workers’ Compensation Insurance Works?

Most workers’ compensation insurance policies actually provide two types of coverage:

* Workers’ Compensation Coverage.
* This type of insurance provides benefits for injured workers as required by state law regardless of who is at fault for the injury or illness. In other words, whatever benefits your state requires, your Workers’ Compensation policy would provide. Employers’ Liability Coverage.

This additional coverage protects employers in case they are ever sued for damages arising from employment-related accidents or diseases. However, to collect benefits provided by employer’s liability coverage, both the employee as well as anyone else not covered by workers’ compensation laws (i.e., spouses and dependents) would have to prove that the employer was actually legally responsible for the employee’s injury or disease.

Regardless of what kind of business you own, customers can claim that something you did on their behalf was done incorrectly, and that this error cost them money or caused them harm in some way.

What Errors & Omissions Insurance Is?

In the litigious world we live in today, many business owners protect themselves with errors and omissions insurance (E&O). This type of insurance may be appropriate for anyone who gives advice, makes educated recommendations, designs solutions or represents the needs of others, such as teachers, consultants, software developers, ad copywriters, Web page designers, placement services, telecommunication carriers or inspectors.

How Errors & Omissions Insurance Works?

Although formalizing a contract with your clients can help limit your liability, the big expense in an errors and omissions claim is the legal defense needed to prove liability or innocence. Errors & Omissions policies are designed to cover many of these defense costs and ultimately the final judgment if the business owner does not win the case.

BOPs have become a very popular choice of insurance plan among small to medium sized businesses community and are available for a broad range of businesses. Among the advantages of BOPs is its one stop shopping for all (or most) of the related policies for your small business. The basic coverage that is required by small to medium size businesses are combined in BOPs as packaged deals.

From the administration point of view, business owners like the all-in-one style convenience of BOPs. Instead of buying different policies to cover different aspects of their business, they simple get one service that includes all (or most) of the insurance coverage required by their small businesses.

Business owner policies consist of property coverage, liability coverage and some additional types of coverage that most businesses require. One should note that workers compensation, health or disability insurance are not covered by BOPs and, if required you need to purchase them separately. Their premium is generally less than what would be required to purchase similar services separately.

Optional coverage plans can also be added to meet specific needs of the business.
Note that BOPs coverage plans differ from one insurance company to another, so be sure that you get the policy that has the right features for your business requirements. A BOP policy would normally include:

* Property insurance
* Business interruption insurance
* Liability protection insurance – lawsuits arising from accidents and/or disagreements etc.
BOP services are usually not extended to businesses like:
* Restaurants Automotive businesses
* Manufacturing firms
* Entertainment Places
* Financial institutions

Commercial automobile coverage can protect your company from any liability stemming from automobiles used in your business or any damage to the covered automobile. A Business Auto Policy (BAP) has the flexibility to provide coverage for business, personal, non-owned, or hired autos based on the coverage purchased and applied to each scheduled auto.
Automobiles can be separately scheduled along with corresponding coverages. Coverage can differ by vehicle. The automobiles are classified by weight (light, medium, heavy, extra
heavy) and by type of use (private passenger, service, commercial).

Unlike personal auto policies that separate bodily injury and property damage limits (split limits), BAPs commonly utilize a Combined Single Limit (CSL) for the limit of insurance. This creates higher limits for the both coverages, including per occurrence limits.

No one really expects a disaster to strike his or her business. But every small business is vulnerable to a major catastrophe or a huge lawsuit. Think about some of the devastating losses you’ve heard about recently. Or the large settlements that are awarded in courts these days. Some of these losses could exceed your primary insurance coverage…unless you protect your business with umbrella insurance.

What Umbrella Insurance Is?

As its name implies, umbrella insurance extends your coverage beyond the limits of your basic business insurance. Umbrella insurance is important because it covers unsuspected events. It’s not expensive and in certain instances, it could literally save your business.

How Umbrella Insurance Works?

Umbrella insurance policies provide additional liability insurance coverage after the limits of your underlying policy are reached. For example, if several people were injured on your property and required $1.5 million in medical treatment but the liability limit of your underlying policy is $1 million, your umbrella insurance policy would cover the additional $500,000 (if you’re found liable).

* Cost of Medical Treatment $1,500,000
* Your Basic Liability Limit $1,000,000
* Umbrella Policy Would Cover the Gap $500,000

Our Construction Insurance customers are builders, general contractors, construction managers, design and build firms, specialty contractors or subcontractors, owners or public and private construction projects.

We offer Construction Policies for every type of project:

    * property
    * builders risk insurance and course of construction
    * liability insurance
    * general liability insurance
    * contractor insurance
    * commercial auto
    * umbrella
    * workers compensation
    * railroad protective
    * equipment insurance
    * contractor bonds
* Specialty products are available for large accounts.
 
The Asset One Insurance Team specializes in addressing the needs of owners, developers, contractors, engineers and builders. Our team of CONSTRUCTION INSURANCE PROFESSIONALS gives you an edge in the competitive, California, construction market.

Contractors Insurance

We draw on industry knowledge and innovation to address the evolving insurance and risk management needs of small, mid-sized and large contractors.

Our CONSTRUCTION INSURANCE programs range from traditional off the shelf solutions to one-of-a-kind, custom, Contractor Insurance policies.

All of our construction insurance solutions aim to reduce a California contractors overall cost of risk while enhancing his profitability and competitive edge.

General Liability Insurance

Asset One Insurance in conjunction with A rated insurance carriers, has developed in-house General Liability Insurance products to meet every contractor need.

Workers Compensation

Asset One Insurance offer a truly different Workers Compensation Insurance solution for large contractors. Our exclusive Workers Compensation Self Insurance plan has saved contractors up to 66% on their Work Comp Insurance costs.
Builders Risk Insurance,
     Course of Construction

Asset One Insurance offer builders risk construction policies for materials, supplies, machinery, equipment, fixtures designed to be a permanent part of the fabrication, erection, installation, alteration or completion of a commercial or residential project while at the project site and in transit or temporary location work.

For more information on contractor insurance, general liability insurance, workers compensation, liability insurance, builders risk/ course of construction or construction insurance, please contact us today.