Small Business Insurance Massachusetts

Business insurance in Massachusetts often includes general liability coverage, also known as commercial general liability. Many landlords require this important type of policy before they will offer your company a lease.

General liability can help protect your business if someone other than an employee claims that your actions caused injury or property damage. It can help to pay for lawyer fees, court costs and settlement damages if your company is sued.

For instance, a prospective homebuyer trips over an end table at an open house in Worcester, seeks medical care and later claims that the injury resulted from the real estate agent’s negligence.

The agent’s general liability insurance could help cover the doctor’s bills, even if the agent is not at fault for the accident.

Massachusetts requires almost all businesses with employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance. This kind of coverage can help cover medical bills, physical rehab costs and lost wages after an employee is injured in the workplace.

Workers’ comp coverage could help protect a small business in a situation such as this:

An employee at a small carpentry firm in Springfield injures a hand while installing a piece of drywall and can’t work for two weeks. Workers’ compensation insurance could help cover the carpenter’s lost wages during recovery and pay his medical bills related to the injury.

Personal auto insurance won’t pay for damages if someone has an accident in a company-owned car. That’s why businesses that own vehicles need the protection of commercial auto insurance. It can help pay for damages if you or your employees have an accident while driving for work purposes.

For example, the owner of a house cleaning company in Cambridge totals a company van, injuring himself and several other drivers. Commercial auto insurance could help cover the injured parties’ medical expenses and pay for vehicle damages.

If your business asks employees to drive their own vehicles for business or rent cars, there’s add-on coverage for such situations. It’s an optional and called hired and non-owned auto insurance.

Massachusetts commercial property insurance can help pay for damaged or destroyed business property after a covered event, such as water, fire or wind damage.

For instance, a power surge fries the refrigerator in a Pittsfield restaurant and all the perishable goods go bad. Commercial property coverage could help pay to repair the fridge and replace the food inventory that spoiled.

It’s important to read your policy documents carefully to make sure there aren’t exclusions for your business. Some locations prone to flooding or hurricane damage might have limited coverage.

If someone says that your company made a professional error, missed a deadline or delivered incomplete work, you could be held liable in court.

Professional liability insurance can help cover expenses associated with allegations of professional negligence, including court costs, attorney fees and damages. This type of coverage is also known as errors and omissions insurance.

Here’s how professional liability insurance can help protect a small business:

A self-employed photographer is hired to shoot a wedding in Worcester but accidentally deletes all the pictures. The client requests that the photographer return the $5,000 fee and pay additional damages.

The photographer’s E&O insurance could help reimburse the client for the mistake. Or, if the client sued, it could help pay for the photographer’s legal defense.