Professional liability pays for claims that your service or your advice caused someone a financial loss. People also call the errors-and-omissions form an E&O policy. Directors and officers, employment practices, and fiduciary coverage are neighbors. They are not the same policy, and a general liability quote does not include them.
What it covers
Errors and omissions: a mistake, an omission, or a negligent professional act, as the form defines it, and the defense of that claim. Directors and officers: claims against directors and officers for their decisions. Employment practices: specified employment claims. Fiduciary: specified benefit-plan claims. Each form has a limit, a deductible or retention, and a claims-made trigger on many contracts. Claims-made means the policy that responds is the one in force when the claim is made, not only when the work was done. The retroactive date matters. Ask about it.
What it doesn't cover
Bodily injury and property damage, which stay on general liability. Employee injuries, which stay on workers' compensation. A guarantee that your work will be profitable for the client. Fraud and intentional illegal acts, as excluded. A claim you knew about before the policy started. Auto. A medical or legal malpractice form is its own class. We will not call a generic E&O policy a medical form.
Florida specifics
Some professional licenses and many client contracts require proof of this coverage. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation is where a lot of those licenses live. The requirement, if there is one, is in the practice act or the contract, not in a general business rule. A Northeast Florida nonprofit, a bookkeeper, a consultant, and a design firm do not buy the same form. The application asks about the work in detail. A vague description gets a vague policy.
How we help
Tell us what the firm actually does, whether a license or a contract requires a limit, and whether anyone has made a claim or sent a letter. We shop the forms the agency can place and we will say when a class has to go to a specialist. Start a business quote and name professional liability, or call either office.