Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance—also known as general liability insurance (GLI) or business liability insurance—helps protect your business from claims of bodily injury and property damage.

What Does Commercial General Liability Insurance Cover?

Commercial general liability insurance helps cover your costs to respond to a claim that your business caused property damage or bodily injury. It can help pay for:

• A customer or client’s medical expenses if they slip and fall in your business.

• Reputational harm resulting from malicious prosecution, slander, libel, wrongful eviction, or violating a person’s privacy.

• Advertising injuries, such as copyright infringement from your business’ advertisements or social media activity, or trademark infringement when marketing your business’ products or services.

• False arrest or imprisonment if your business wrongfully detains a person suspected of shoplifting, for example.

• Medical costs if your customer or client hurts themselves while visiting your business.

• Damage to rented property caused by a covered loss such as fire, lightning, or explosion.

• Repair costs to fix a wall that your employee accidentally damaged while working at a customer’s home or bodily injuries to a child caused by a harmful substance your employee did not properly dispose of.

• Legal costs to defend your business in a lawsuit.

• Judgments and settlements from a customer or client’s lawsuit.

In Arkansas, Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance is designed to protect businesses from financial losses due to claims of bodily injury, property damage, and various other risks. This type of insurance typically covers medical expenses for customers who are injured on the business premises, such as a slip and fall incident. It also provides coverage for reputational harm, including slander and libel, as well as advertising injuries like copyright or trademark infringement. CGL policies in Arkansas may cover the costs associated with false arrest or imprisonment claims, medical costs for injuries occurring on business property, and damage to rented property due to covered events like fire or explosions. Additionally, CGL insurance helps with the repair costs for accidental damage caused by employees and legal defense costs in the event of a lawsuit. The policy may also cover judgments and settlements resulting from such lawsuits. It's important for businesses to review their CGL policy to understand the specific coverages and exclusions, as these can vary. Arkansas state statutes and federal law do not mandate CGL insurance, but it is highly recommended for businesses to mitigate potential financial risks associated with liability claims.