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 Connecticut, Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance is designed to protect businesses from a wide range of potential liability exposures. This type of insurance typically covers the costs associated with bodily injury and property damage claims that arise from the business's operations, products, or on its premises. It also covers reputational harm, advertising injuries, false arrest, and damage to rented property. For instance, if a customer slips and falls in a Connecticut business, the CGL policy may cover their medical expenses. Similarly, if a business is sued for copyright infringement due to its advertising practices, the CGL policy can help cover legal defense costs and any resulting judgments or settlements. It's important for businesses to review their policies to ensure they have adequate coverage for the risks associated with their specific operations. While CGL insurance is not mandated by Connecticut state law, it is often required by clients or landlords and can be crucial for protecting the financial stability of a business.