Commercial general liability insurance is an important coverage for all businesses to carry. It’s critical for a mall to carry however, because of the large amount of consumer traffic that comes through the premises daily. General liability protects your mall from potential risks and hazards that you might not expect. There are four primary areas it provides you with protection:
- Advertising and Personal Injury – If someone feels your mall has injured their reputation, they may sue for you slander, libel, or general defamation. If your mall is accused of privacy violations by customers, general liability Insurance can protect you in those suits as well.
Property damages goes hand in hand with bodily injuries, because it covers the cost of repairing or replacing a customer’s property if it is damaged while at your mall. If, for example, a customer plugs their cell phone in at your food court and the electrical plug short circuits, the customer’s cell phone may be damaged and need replacement.
This portion of your general liability policy provides you with protection in your advertising as well. A model may, for example, feel that she is being misrepresented in an advertisement for your mall and she may sue because of it. Likewise, your advertising company may use an image of a person that never signed a model release. Another company may accuse your mall of stealing an advertising slogan, or copying their ad style too closely. General liability insurance protects you from lawsuits of this nature.
- Minor Medical – When a customer is injured in your mall, the injury may be minor enough to only require general first aid treatment. To prevent additional lawsuits and litigation, your general liability policy may provide medical payments as compensation. This coverage is sometimes referred to as premises medical payments, and it allows you to settle potential issues before they arise to save on expensive legal defenses.
- Tenant Liability – If your company rents or leases the mall that you operate, your commercial general liability policy provides you with protection against damages that can be caused to the building. If you take actions that cause a fire for example, or that cause water damage due to setting off the sprinkler system, the tenant liability portion of your coverage pays for the damages.
