Casualty Insurance
Liability basics
Casualty insurance pays third-party sums the insured is legally obligated to pay for bodily injury or property damage. It does not pay the insured's own injuries; workers compensation handles employee injuries. Commercial general liability (CGL) includes premises/operations, products/completed operations, personal and advertising injury, medical payments, and supplementary payments. Limits commonly include each occurrence, general aggregate, products-completed operations aggregate, and personal/advertising aggregate.
Trigger and exclusions
Occurrence policies respond when injury or damage occurs, even if the claim is later. Claims-made policies respond when a claim is made during the policy period, subject to a retroactive date; an extended reporting period extends the time to report. CGL exclusions often include expected or intentional injury, contractual liability, your product, your work, impaired property, and auto or employee injury. Traps: occurrence versus claims-made trigger; UM versus UIM; and the difference between excess and umbrella.
Auto and workers compensation
Personal auto covers liability, collision, other-than-collision, medical payments, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Ohio is a tort state, not a no-fault state; UM/UIM must be offered. Ohio employers generally obtain workers compensation through the state Bureau of Workers' Compensation, not a private carrier-a frequent Ohio-specific trap.
Worked rule of thumb
Ask what triggered coverage. Injury during an occurrence policy period is covered even if suit comes years later; under claims-made, a claim after the policy expires may be uncovered unless reporting is extended.