Moss Berg Injury Lawyers 

Who Is Liable When You Loan Your Car to Someone Who Has an Accident?
It is so common for people to loan their cars to a trusted friend, neighbor, or close relative that you may not even pause to think about it when you toss over the keys. Why not? Their car is in the shop or their son, daughter, husband, or wife has their car. They just need to run a quick errand. You're busy. It's just easier to hand over the keys than to stop what you're doing and take the time to drive them where they need to go.

What could go wrong?

They leave with your car, and then, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you get the call. They are so sorry. They had an accident.

Who is liable? You should consult a personal injury lawyer, of course, but several factors are used to determine liability.

Residency
If you loaned your car to someone who lives with you, even if that person is a roommate and not a relative, that person may be considered a member of your household and might be covered by your insurance.

However, if you loaned your car to a relative who lives out of state but who is staying with you for a visit, that person may not be considered a member of your household even though he or she is related to you. To clarify the situation, it might be wise to add a roommate to your insurance policy if you think you might ever toss them the keys.

Permission
If you give someone permission to use your car, you are liable and any accident claims will go against your insurance. However, if someone steals your car or drives it without your permission, you are free of any responsibility.

Insurance Exclusions
Just as you can add relatives, friends, neighbors, and roommates to your policy if they might drive your car, you can remove or exclude someone from your policy if you think that you will no longer allow them to drive your car. If someone you've excluded from your policy later drives your car with your permission and has an accident, your insurance may not cover them, and you may be liable.

Fault
If the person driving your car isn't the one who caused the accident, then the other person is liable, and all claims will go against that person's insurance.

Policy Limits
In the case of a severe accident, the claims can exceed the amount that your policy will pay. If the person who was driving your car has insurance that covers driving a borrowed car, that person's insurance may fill the gap between the total claims and what your insurance will pay. 

​The Best Policy
The best policy is to carefully read your insurance policy to see who and what is covered before you loan your car.  

 

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Four Important Insurance Policies You Need To Protect Your Business

Small businesses also often have small budgets. When your deciding how to allocate your business funds among necessary expenses, liability insurance may seem to be a lower priority. After all you have outlined the best practices, safety checks, and safety procedures that you and your employees will follow. You may think that you can let some types of insurance coverage go until your business budget has increased to the point you can cover it. However, regardless of how careful you and your employees are, keep in mind Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong it will.” Some add that it will go wrong at the worst possible time, and act on the motto of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts: “Be prepared.”
 
Types of Small Business Liability Insurance
You will find that there are a number of different types of small business insurance. Each one protects a small business from a different kind of liability. These types of small business insurance are:

• General Liability Insurance (Commercial Liability Insurance)
• Business Owner’s Insurance
• Professional Liability Insurance (Errors and Omissions Insurance)
• Product Liability Insurance
• Medical Malpractice Insurance
• Directors and Officers Insurance
• Workers Comp Insurance
• Umbrella Insurance
• Employment Practices Liability Insurance
• Short Term Liability Insurance
• Cyber Security Insurance
• Commercial Auto Insurance

 
Some states and professions require your business to carry certain types of insurance. For example, medical professionals who perform surgery are required to carry medical malpractice insurance.
 
General Liability Insurance
​General liability insurance protects your company from claims of physical injury or property damage filed by a client, customer, or the owner of off-site locations where you conduct business. You should consider investing in this type of insurance if:

• Clients or customers come to your place of business
• You do business at a location owned by another person or business
• Your business rents equipment, cars or, vehicles that it uses in the course of conducting business
• You do work at a property owned by your client or customer, such as a remodeler, a home health care provider, or a carpet cleaner or maid-service provider
• You may enter into a contract that requires you to carry this type of insurance

 
General liability insurance can also protect your business if:

• Your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees make false, negative comments about a client or customer verbally or in writing and you are sued for slander or libel
• You unintentionally use a slogan or logo in your advertising that is identical or too similar to ones used by another company
• You work on electronic equipment and one of your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees could accidentally lose your client’s or customer’s electronic data
• You face expenses such as attorney fees or lost income related to the defense of your business from the claim

 
This insurance can protect your business from bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury claims caused by your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees.  
 
General liability insurance does not cover:

• Your business’s property
• Vehicles or boats used as part of your business
• Professional services offered by your business
• Exposure of the personal information of your customers or employees
• Injuries to employees

 
Business Owners Insurance
A business owners policy combines two types of insuranc general liability insurance and property insurance. It includes everything covered by general liability insurance while also covering property owned by your business. Specifically, the property insurance portion of a business owners insurance policy covers your office furniture and equipment. If you own the building that houses your business, this policy may cover that as well.
 
Consider business owners insurance if:

• Your own the building and property where your business is located and you need to insure it
• You have office furniture and equipment such as computers, printers, a phone system or you provide mobile devices for your employees
• Your business owns and works with considerable amounts of data that could be lost
• Your business owns and uses cars or other vehicles in the course of conducting business
• Your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees might damage or steal an employees property
• Your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees might act dishonestly
• Your business needs general liability insurance
• You need to protect your business from interruptions
• You need to protect your business from fire
• You need to protect your business from terrorism

 
Business owners insurance does not cover losses or damage suffered by a client if:

• You, your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees fail to provide the client with all the information the client needs
• The information you or your business provides is incorrect
• A claim arises out of the professional services you or your employees provide

 
Professional Liability Insurance (Errors and Omissions or E & O Insurance) 
Professional liability insurance and errors and omissions insurance are interchangeable terms that refer to the same type of insurance coverage. If your business provides a service to your clients, errors and omissions insurance offers protection if your client suffers financial injury or loss because the service or information you, your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees was incomplete or in error. Errors and omissions insurance protects you whether the error or omission was due to lack of knowledge, lack of due diligence, or a mistake so long as the error or omission was unintentional.

This type of insurance covers settlements paid in lawsuits up to the limit described in the policy. It also covers the court costs of your legal defense whether or not the client’s claim is found to be legitimate. In addition, it covers damages or compensation awarded for emotional pain and suffering caused by the error or omission.

Professional liability insurance covers all claims that fall within the active dates of the policy. Commonly, coverage begins on the purchase date of the policy, but in some cases, you may be able to purchase a policy that covers your business retroactively.

Some professionals are required by their regulatory or licensing boards to carry professional liability or errors and omissions insurance. States or local governments may also effectively require errors or omissions insurance as part of their duty of care to clients.

Specifically, professional liability insurance covers:

• Claims of financial loss including, for example, a reduction to a home’s value due to an error or omission in information provided about the home before the sale
• Claims of financial loss due to the failure of a service such as a marketing plan to perform according to expectations
• Personal injury claims arising from alleged slander or libel
• Claims of misrepresentations
• Allegations of violations of fair dealing and good faith
• Damages awarded for emotional distress and suffering above and beyond financial losses
• Claims made in the present alleging losses due to services performed in the past
• Claims of copyright or trademark infringement
• Court costs and losses of income due to time spent defending the case

Professional liability insurance does not cover:

• Physical injuries to individuals
• Damage to property
• Deliberate acts of fraud
• Claims arising from dishonesty or criminal acts
• Loss or exposure of any individual’s personally identifiable information, whether it belongs to a client or your employees, your temporary employees, or your contract employees
• Services rendered that aren’t listed in your policy
• Infringement of trade secrets or patents
• Claims of false advertising

​
Product Liability Insurance
Product liability insurance protects manufacturers, distributers, wholesalers, and retailers if the business they make, distribute, or sell causes property damage, illness, physical injury, or death. Those who sell products on eBay, Etsy, Amazon, in consignment shops, and at festivals, fairs, and similar venues are among those who should consider product liability insurance.

Product liability insurance not only protects your business if a product actually is defective but it also protects you from claims that the instruction for its use were incorrect, that it was mislabeled, or that there were no warnings or insufficient warnings of dangers associated with the product. Consequently, you may be liable even if someone was injured when your product was misused.

Product liability insurance can be included in your businesses general liability insurance or purchased as a separate policy.
This type of insurance covers:

• The medical treatment needed by the injured individual
• Settlements or judgements paid by your business
• The costs of defending the case

Product liability insurance protects your business if the product:

• Has a defect in the design of the product
• Has a defect that was created in the manufacturing process
• Has a defect originating in the marketing, for example you failed to include sufficient warning of possible injury in the product labeling or instructions for use

Your business could also be found to be strictly liable for injuries even if your company isn’t found to be negligent.
The amount of coverage you should have depends on:

• Whether your product is inherently dangerous
• Whether you sell your product in a geographical area or a market where lawsuits are likely to be filed
• The number of units you manufacture
• The number of people required to manufacture your products
• The number of units you sell

The more products you manufacture and sell, the more likely it is that some products will be defective.
Product liability does not cover products that do not cause bodily injury or property damage. Consequently, those who create software would not usually need product liability insurance unless running the app could cause the battery of a phone or tablet to overheat and cause physical damage or injury.

A Final Thought
When considering what type of insurance you need to protect your business, always keep in mind the requirements of regulatory or licensing boards that govern your business and the requirements of state and local governments.