Personal liability insurance is designed to protect you in the event that you cause injury or damage to another person. It protects you by paying others to whom which you become indebted due to your negligence.
In legalese, the term “tort” refers to a legal wrong that one person commits against another. There are two kinds of torts, intentional and unintentional. Intentional torts, or injuries that someone causes on purpose, are not covered under the personal liability section of a homeowner’s insurance policy. This policy is designed to pay for unintentional torts, which fall under the category of negligence.
Negligence simply means that someone was irresponsible. Sometimes, a person can be negligent and there are no consequences. Just because someone is negligent does not always mean someone else automatically is injured. Conversely, someone could be injured when no one is negligent. This is often referred to as an “act of God” or a natural occurrence. For example, if a person contracts a rare disease and dies due to a genetic defect that science cannot explain, there is no one to blame.
When speaking of insurance, liability insurance will protect your assets if you are negligent, but not if you intentionally cause injury or harm to someone.
It is important to discern a personal injury from a bodily injury. Bodily injuries are covered by the liability portion of a homeowner’s insurance policy or an auto insurance policy. Personal injuries in the realm of insurance coverage typically mean things like libel, slander, and defamation of character, false arrest, malicious prosecution and other such actions. These are usually considered intentional torts and are therefore not covered under a homeowner’s insurance policy. A separate personal injury policy or umbrella liability policy would provide coverage for these things. In today’s electronic age, coverage for these types of torts can be very important, particularly for those active in blogging, or social networking groups. The potential for claims of defamation, or slander are great in this environment.
The reality is that everyone is exposed to the risk of accidentally causing injury or damage to others so it is very important to have insurance to protect your assets in the event of a claim. Lack of insurance does not mean you are insulated from a claim, it merely means that you will have to pay for the damages out of your own pocket in the event of a legal judgment against you.