For the most part, you don’t have to carry business insurance by law. If you don’t, however, you are probably taking an unjustified risk.
Of course, most businesses don’t need every possible type of business insurance. Most businesses do, however, need some types of insurance. Learn about the importance of property and casualty insurance for your business in Portland, Oregon, here.
What Is Property and Casualty Insurance?
“Property and casualty insurance” is a catch-all term that refers to just about any insurance that your business might need to operate safely. Some examples include:
- Commercial property insurance
- General liability insurance
- Business interruption insurance
- Professional liability insurance (errors and omissions)
- Product liability insurance
- Workers’ compensation insurance
- Cyber liability insurance
- Commercial auto insurance
- Directors and officers insurance
- Employment practices liability insurance
- Umbrella insurance
- Flood insurance
- Earthquake insurance
- Crime insurance
- Surety bonds
You can also insure against other, less common risks (terrorism, for example), although most businesses don’t bother with insuring against remote risks.
Why You Might Need Insurance
There are as many reasons why you need insurance as there are possible mishaps that insurance might cover. In other words, a complete list would run longer than you would want to read. Following are five likely contingencies.
Your Employee Suffers a Workplace Injury
If your employee suffers a workplace injury that they cannot blame a third party for, they have two choices:
- If you have workers’ compensation insurance, they can file a workers’ compensation claim for partial economic damages; or
- If you don’t have workers’ compensation insurance, they can file a personal injury lawsuit against you for full economic damages and full non-economic damages.
Oregon requires most employers to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Failure to carry it could drastically increase your liability.
Someone Files a Personal Injury Lawsuit Against You
Suppose that a customer suffers an injury on your premises that can be imputed to the business. Imagine, for example, that a customer breaks their hip on a malfunctioning escalator.
If one of your employees was at fault, the customer could sue your business for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and more, even if the accident was entirely the result of your employee’s individual misconduct. An insurance payout could keep your business from having to pay the claim itself.
Urban Flooding
Portland has a moderate but increasing risk of flooding over the next several years. As you might have guessed, flooding can wreak catastrophic damage on your business property. Holding the right insurance policy might save your business from bankruptcy.
Retail Theft
Are you a retailer? If you are, you probably already know that Portland is suffering from an epidemic of shoplifting.
Police are trying to cope, but it is a problem that retailers all over Portland are facing. Insurance can cover your retail theft losses, although you can expect rates to go up if current trends continue.
Professional Liability
Does your business offer professional services such as accounting services, legal services, or medical services? These services can be very difficult to perform without error–and professional errors can be very, very expensive to correct. Let your professional liability insurance pay for any errors, not your company’s operating capital fund.
Scrutinize the Terms of Your Policy for Exclusions and Deductions
Portland personal injury lawyers from Tillmann Law Personal Injury Lawyers advise business owners to carefully examine the terms of all of their insurance policies to make sure they fully understand what is covered and what is not. Better yet, get help from a personal injury lawyer in Portland, OR.
In many contexts, a personal injury lawyer can provide insight into the types of insurance that might benefit you as a business. Otherwise, they can refer you to another legal professional who may have more specialized knowledge about how you should proceed.
Interesting Related Article: “Actions That Can Make Your Personal Injury Case Stronger- Some Key Points Discussed“
