Why it matters for your company
General liability pays for bodily injury and property damage to third parties, plus a separate part for personal and advertising injury such as defamation. It also pays the legal defense, which in most small claims is the larger cost.
It does not respond to a customer's financial loss when nothing physical happened; that is tech E&O. For a robotics company the question that matters is whether the form contemplates an autonomous machine on a customer site, because a policy priced for an office with no mention of deployed hardware is the one most likely to be argued over.
Related terms
- Bodily injuryPhysical harm, sickness or disease to a person, including death that results. It is one of the two triggers of general liability, with property damage as the other.
- Products and completed operationsThe part of general liability that covers injury or damage caused by a product after it leaves your hands, or by work after you have finished it. It usually carries its own aggregate limit.
- Additional insuredA person or company added to your policy by endorsement so they can claim under it too, usually a landlord or customer whose contract asks for it. They get a right to defense and payment for claims arising from your work, within the limits of the endorsement.
- Aircraft exclusionThe clause in a standard general liability policy that removes injury or damage arising from owning, operating or entrusting an aircraft. Drones fall inside it unless the policy says otherwise.
- Technology errors and omissions (tech E&O)Professional liability for technology companies: it responds when your product or service fails to perform and a customer suffers a financial loss. It is the anchor line for an AI or software company.