What is excess liability?
Excess liability insurance coverage is written in excess of primary insurance. It is designed to increase the limits of liability, thereby providing catastrophe coverage. Excess liability coverage does not respond to a loss until the amount of the loss exceeds (or exhausts) any existing primary policy limits.
Example:
A primary $500,000 liability policy is written and excess insurance is written for $2 million excess of the primary. The primary policy would pay all losses within $500,000 and the excess policy would pay losses in excess of the primary coverage, up to the excess policy limit of $2 million. In addition, excess liability insurance coverage also provides the following:
- Protection for covered claims by others for personal injury or property damage caused by the policyholder, the policyholder's family/friends, or hazards on the policyholder's property for which they are legally liable
- Personal liability coverage for occurrences on or off your premises
- An additional layer of protection above your primary auto policy against auto-related liabilities
- Protection against non-business related personal injury liabilities such as slander, libel, wrongful eviction, or false arrest
- Legal defense costs for a covered loss. Lawyer fees and associated cour costs are covered
- World wide coverage - no matter where you go, with the only exception being situations involving foreign ownership of dwellings or cars.
