Professional Liability Insurance Newfoundland

What is professional liability insurance in Newfoundland?

In St. John’s, many professionals provide a service or give advice in a professional capacity. You can be sued by your clients if your service or advice results in financial loss for your client. They could be accusing you of a failure to provide, negligence, misrepresentation, or something else. Whether the accusations are true or false, you’d still be responsible for paying the costs associated with litigation.

Professional liability insurance gives St. John’s professionals peace of mind. Also known as errors and omissions insurance, this covers the legal defense costs in insured events as well as settlement or judgement awards, up to your policy limit.

At EasyCover, we offer three levels of coverage:

• $1 million
• $2 million
• $5 million

Each option is the maximum amount your policy will pay out over the 12-month period, regardless of the number of claims you make. The level of coverage you should choose will depend on your industry, your clients, the value of your projects, and the anticipated costs of litigation in the event you’re sued. In some professions, this coverage is required by law. Many contracts also require a certain level of professional liability insurance in St. John’s.

You’ll also be responsible for paying a deductible for each claim you make. For example, if your deductible is $500 and you make two covered claims, you’d pay $1000 total. Your professional liability insurance would cover the rest (up to your policy limit), so long as it was an insured scenario.

Keep in mind that this coverage won’t cover criminal acts and doesn’t take the place of commercial liability insurance – bodily injury and property damage for third parties isn’t covered by errors and omissions coverage. If you participate in any deliberate dishonesty, fraud or misrepresentation, you will not be covered. You’re also expected to report any incidents that may result in a lawsuit to your insurer. This won’t affect your coverage or premiums, it is just important to have open communication.

For example, let’s say you’re a website designer in St. John’s. You deliver an e-commerce website and your client launches it. Unfortunately, there’s an issue with the purchase process and no one can buy anything. Once you’re aware of the mistake, you should contact your insurance company to give them a heads up. While this may not result in a lawsuit, your insurance company wants to be prepared in case it does.

The cost of professional liability insurance in Newfoundland

Your professional liability insurance in Newfoundland is priced in a way where you’ll be required to pay a premium each month. That premium may be evaluated based on the risk that your business presents. Some industries and operations are riskier than others, but there’s a lot more than that which is used to total your costs. Here are some examples of key factors.

• Your industry. As mentioned previously, some industries present higher risk than others. Medical businesses, for example, offer a very complex service that may be valued much higher than a new media professional’s services, and the cost of a loss is greater.
• The average cost of lawsuit in your field. This sort of ties in with the previous factor, but how much, on average, would a suit in your industry cost? Some answers range in the tens or hundreds of thousands, but some can scale into the millions. This is why it’s so important to have enough coverage for your business.
• Coverage limits. You’ll be able to purchase a certain level of coverage for your insurance. $1 million and $2 million are popular amounts. The more coverage you buy, the more your insurance will cost.
• Insurance history. The amount of claims you’ve made, and the frequency, can signal to insurers what your likelihood of making a claim again might be. Prevent unnecessary claims by practicing proper risk management and protecting yourself against professional liability risks.

Costs vary from case to case. Get an estimate of your total costs by getting a free professional liability insurance quote in Newfoundland with EasyCover’s quick to use, easy virtual tool.