Colorado · Business · General Liability and Professional Liability
General liability and professional liability pay for different kinds of harm. General liability is for bodily injury and property damage that come out of your operations: a client trips in your office, or you damage their premises. Professional liability, also called errors and omissions, is for financial harm from a mistake in the service you were hired to perform: bad advice, a design error, a missed filing. Many Colorado firms need both. A certificate that names only one of them does not satisfy a contract that asks for the other. Educational, not legal advice.
Not legal advice. Contract wording, licensing boards, and claim outcomes vary. We do not use fake “save 40 percent” claims.
1. What general liability is for
A commercial general liability form responds to covered bodily injury and property damage arising from your premises or your ongoing operations, and often from products or completed operations if that coverage is on the form. Defense costs are part of why the policy exists, subject to the form’s limits and exclusions. It is not property insurance for your own tools, not workers’ compensation for your employees, and not auto liability for vehicles you own.
Intentional injury, many professional services, and pollution are common exclusions. That professional-services exclusion is the reason a consultant cannot point at a general-liability policy and say the bad advice is covered. The form often removes that exposure on purpose.
2. What professional liability is for
Errors and omissions covers claims that your professional service failed: a negligent error, an omission, or sometimes a misleading statement, and the client alleges a financial loss. There may be no damaged property at all. The trigger, the definitions, and whether defense is inside or outside the limit differ by form. A claims-made policy covers claims made while the policy is active, often only for work after a retroactive date. Letting it lapse can leave prior work uncovered. That is a different structure from an occurrence general-liability policy, which ties the claim to when the injury happened.
| Question | General liability | Professional liability |
|---|---|---|
| Typical harm | Bodily injury or property damage | Financial loss from a professional mistake |
| Example | A visitor falls, or you break a client’s fixture | A design, tax, or consulting error costs the client money |
| Your own building or tools | No | No |
| Employees’ injuries | No. That is workers’ compensation | No |
3. Certificates and contracts
A certificate of insurance only reports what the policies say. It does not add coverage. If a Colorado contract asks for general liability, professional liability, additional insured status, or a waiver of subrogation, those have to be on the policies, not typed onto the certificate as a wish. Additional insured wording belongs on an endorsement. Ask for the endorsement, not a prettier certificate. Office locations if you want a person to compare the contract list with the forms.
FAQ
Is general liability the same as professional liability?
No. General liability is for injury and property damage from your operations. Professional liability is for financial harm from a mistake in your professional service.
Does general liability cover bad advice?
Usually no. Professional services are often excluded. That is why errors and omissions exists as a separate policy.
If I have both, am I fully insured?
No. You can still need property coverage for your own equipment, workers’ compensation for employees, and commercial auto if you use vehicles. These two policies do not replace those.
Does a certificate change coverage?
No. The certificate summarizes. Endorsements change the policy.
