A homeowners policy liability section covers only “bodily injury” and “property damage.” Thus, any non-bodily injury, such as personal injury, is excluded without attaching a personal injury endorsement.
Examples of personal injury claims include wrongful eviction, wrongful entry, and oral or written publication that injures a party’s reputation. This latter event is becoming particularly problematic with the rapid growth in social media.
Here are some tips to help you carefully manage personal injury loss exposures:
- Exercise caution when posting on social media sites. Anything negative you share on the Internet is permanent. Avoid highly controversial subjects, sensitive political issues, or inflammatory remarks. Taking the high road is the best approach.
- Be sure to have your facts straight if you blog or communicate on social media. Why say it if it is a close call or a gray area?
- Exercise caution in the case of product disparagement. There are lawyers and business owners who are willing to threaten lawsuits when it comes to negative comments about their products.
- Provide strict ground rules for your children on social media and closely monitor their activities. Keep the computer in a public part of the home to closely watch their activities—screen with whom your children are “friends” on Facebook. Place strict limits on the amount of time your children spend online. Provide age-appropriate and concrete explanations of libel, slander, sexting, and their ramifications.
- Exercise due care in dealing with others on sensitive matters if you are on a not-for-profit board, such as a homeowners’ association. Be especially careful regarding newsletters that go out to the community.
- Procure a personal injury endorsement with sufficient limits to protect a personal injury claim. However, remember that this endorsement does not protect business-related activities. Also, purchase a personal umbrella policy that provides higher liability limits for various personal liability claims, including personal injury.
Source: International Risk Management Institute, Inc. Copyright 2015
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