General Liability insurance is essential for protecting your business from common risks that arise during normal operations. It's the safety net that pays when a customer slips in your lobby, your work damages a client's property, or a competitor sues you for advertising injury.
General Liability (often called CGL, Commercial General Liability) is the foundation of most business insurance programs. It does not cover your employees (that's workers' comp), your vehicles (that's commercial auto), or your professional advice (that's E&O). It covers third-party bodily injury and property damage arising from your premises, your operations, your products, and your completed work.
Nearly every Florida business, regardless of size or industry, benefits from general liability. It's particularly crucial if you interact with clients face-to-face, have a physical business location, send employees to client sites, handle client property, or advertise broadly. Many commercial leases, contracts, and licensing boards REQUIRE proof of GL coverage at $1M / $2M before you can operate.
The most common limit structure is $1M per occurrence / $2M aggregate, with $100,000 fire damage legal liability and $5,000 medical payments. For larger businesses, contracts often require $2M / $4M or higher. A commercial umbrella sitting on top of GL adds another $1M to $10M of liability protection for a fraction of what raising the underlying limits costs. We'll model both options and show you the cost difference.
Florida does not have a state-wide law requiring general liability for most businesses. However, contracts and licensing requirements often do. Construction-industry licensees, commercial tenants, and most general contractors require GL coverage as a condition of operating. Functionally, if you have employees, customers, vendors, or a public-facing operation, you need it.
Per-occurrence is the maximum the policy will pay for any single claim. Aggregate is the maximum the policy will pay across ALL claims during the policy term. A $1M / $2M policy means up to $1M per claim, up to $2M total per year. After the aggregate is exhausted, you're uninsured until renewal unless you add reinstatement of limits or a commercial umbrella.
No. Employee injuries are covered by workers' compensation, not GL. In fact, every standard GL policy specifically excludes injuries to employees in the course of employment. If you have employees in Florida, workers' comp is a separate (and often legally required) policy under FL Statute 440.
Generally, no. GL covers bodily injury and property damage that results from your work, but does NOT cover the cost of redoing faulty work itself or claims of pure economic loss because a service wasn't delivered as promised. Those exposures fall under Professional Liability (E&O), which is a separate policy.
Yes, and we usually recommend it for any Florida business with meaningful assets, employees, or revenue. A commercial umbrella adds $1M to $10M of liability protection on top of your underlying GL, commercial auto, and (where applicable) employer's liability. For most small businesses, the first million of umbrella runs $400 to $1,200 per year, a fraction of what raising the underlying GL limits would cost.
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