Boom! Two days later, you get a summons to court .... We have discussed the homeowner's policy at fairly great length in other blogs, and you can check it out HERE, but today I want to talk about a coverage that is very small in cost, is often left off of a homeowner's policy, but could have huge implications for a homeowner. That coverage is "Personal Injury Insurance."
Under most circumstances, your home insurance liability portion covers losses arising from your negligence. For instance, your dog bites someone. You never intended for your dog to bite someone, but it happened, and you're responsible. Another situation might be, you left a ladder leaning up against your home after doing some rain gutter cleaning. A powerful gust of wind blows the ladder over and it hits your neighbor's car. Homeowner's liability coverage is designed to protect you from these types of occurrences. Personal Injury insurance coverage, however, is rather different. In the examples I mentioned above, none of the occurrences were deliberate on your part. Where personal injury coverage comes into play is that it amends your policy to cover occurrences in which you deliberately did something that unintentionally caused harm. Examples of this would be, you have a party at your house and someone says something disparaging about your carpet. You stand in the doorway and say, "you're not leaving this house until you apologize for that remark!" You then block the doorway, and direct your spouse to block the back door so that the person can't leave. The person apologizes and then leaves. Boom! Two days later, you get a summons to court saying that you're being sued for false imprisonment! The injured party claimed that while they were not physically injured, they were held in your home against their will and that your "false imprisonment" caused them fear for their safety. This is a very real issue that could possibly end up costing a homeowner thousands of dollars in attorney's fees. Even if the case is determined to be without merit, you still need to defend yourself. Most people don't have that type of money laying around. That's why this coverage is so important. Another key aspect of this coverage which is becoming increasingly important in our modern social media savvy society. Libel and slander are becoming easier to commit, even unintentionally. It could be something as simple as saying, "that violinist in the middle was horrible! How did she ever make the high school band? Is she the teacher's daughter?" While these types of comments might be true in your mind, and you might even say something like that to a VERY close friend, posting it on Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram could find yourself with a summons as well as a subpoena for all of your computers and cell phones. With modern technology, your comments could be around the world in three seconds. Yet another key person for whom this coverage could be invaluable is a public person. Public people are by definition in the public eye. Things that they say are more closely watched, and therefore something they say could be misconstrued. In other words, a public person is a bigger target for slander and libel suits. While many of these cases are dismissed, the costs of defense can rise very quickly. Bottom line, a Personal Injury endorsement usually costs less than $20 per year. If you find yourself in one of these extremely trying situations, it will be money well spent!! If you don't have personal injury coverage on your policy, or if your company doesn't offer it, please feel free to give my office a call at (661) 946-4224. I or my licensed staff will be happy to review your homeowner's policy to see if this policy endorsement is right for you.
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AuthorDave Owens, Owner/Agent. I have proudly served in the Insurance Industry for over 20 years. Archives
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