Liability Insurance in Ontario

Liability Insurance: What it is And Why You Need it?
Liability Insurance is the stuff that protects you when you are sued. You’ve probably seen a scenario, either in a movie or T.V. show, where a character’s life is completely changed because of a lawsuit. You have maybe even thought about what it would be like, winning a massive settlement against someone or some company. But you’ve probably never considered what would happen if YOU got sued.

What is General Liability Insurance?

And that is what general liability insurance is. Have you seen those legal adds on TV, where the lawyers talk about “Slip and falls, fender benders” and promise “We won’t charge a cent if we don’t get a settlement”? They make their money by winning lawsuits against people, just like you and me, and they are always looking for a reason to take you to court.

As our society becomes increasing litigious, the chances of somebody suing you get higher and higher. Most people don’t realize that you can be sued even if you never maliciously intended to hurt anyone, generally by the application of law known as “negligence”. If someone slips on your property (something that happens to many people in our cold Canadian winters), you could be held liable, and the awards against you could change your standard of living forever.

Do you need liability Insurance?

So do you need liability insurance? The answer is yes. You need liability insurance if you are driving any car, regardless of how “safe” the vehicle is, or how little it’s worth. You need liability insurance if you own a home, no matter how careful you are in maintaining your property. And you need liability insurance for your business, regardless of its size. Because accidents happen, and nowadays there are a lot of lawyers ready to pounce when they do.

Thankfully, getting a quote for general liability insurance, be it part of your Car Insurance, Home Insurance or Business insurance, is quick and painless. It also provides extremely high limits, McDougall Insurance generally sells a $2,000,000 minimum liability limit on its property and casualty insurance, which ensures that  you will have strong protection in place, even if you are sued.

Liability insurance can also be a low cost part of your insurance, especially the endorsements that increase you liability limits beyond what is legally required in Canada. When you are already paying several thousand dollars to insurance your property against physical damage, paying an extra $50 to protect you from legal damage doesn’t seem too bad. Check out our online quoting system and see for yourself what liability options you have.

Liability insurance needs to be your constant companion in the world where lawsuits are being thrown around at an increasingly frequent pace. But should it? Should our society be so litigious that you need to purchase insurance so you are protected? Have any other questions about liability insurance you’d like answered? Let us know in the comments!

This is the first of several articles to deal with the concept of liability in insurance, check back here for articles on Auto General Liability Insurance, Property General Liability Insurance, Commercial General Liability Insurance and even an article on Liability Facts!