Missouri General Liability Insurance

Missouri Liability Guide

General liability is the policy Missouri businesses reach for when someone outside the company gets hurt or has property damaged because of the business—a customer who trips over a cord in a Columbia boutique, a contractor who cracks a client’s countertop in Lee’s Summit, a product that injures a buyer months after the sale. It is also the certificate landlords and customers ask for before they sign. Freedom Insurance Group is an independent agency licensed in Missouri, based in Flower Mound, Texas, and serving Texas since 2005.

The Four Kinds of Claims GL Handles

Each of these has its own place in the policy limits. A common structure is a per-occurrence limit plus a general aggregate, with a separate aggregate for products and completed operations. Ask how the aggregate works when you run many jobs a year.

What It Will Not Do

• Employee injuries are handled by Missouri workers’ compensation, which Missouri requires for most employers with five or more employees and for construction employers with one or more.
• Vehicle accidents belong on Missouri commercial auto.
• Your building, equipment, and inventory need commercial property coverage. Our general liability and property guide explains how the two split a claim.
• Advice and professional errors usually need professional liability (E&O).
• Your own faulty workmanship—the cost to redo the job itself—is generally not what GL pays for, even when damage the work causes to other property may be.

Missouri Law That Shapes Liability Claims

Five years to sue

Missouri’s general statute of limitations for injury to a person or to the rights of another, not arising on contract, is five years under RSMo 516.120. In practical terms, a claim can arrive long after the incident. Keep incident reports, photos, and contracts for years, not months, and tell your agent about incidents promptly even when no one has threatened suit.

Bars and restaurants: Missouri’s dram shop statute

RSMo 537.053 sets Missouri’s general policy against dram shop liability but allows a cause of action against a business licensed to sell liquor by the drink when it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the seller knew or should have known it served someone under 21, or knowingly served a visibly intoxicated person. Most general liability policies exclude liquor liability for businesses in the business of selling alcohol, so restaurants, bars, and event venues should ask for liquor liability coverage specifically.

Certificates, Additional Insureds, and Leases

Many Missouri businesses buy GL because a landlord, general contractor, or customer requires it. The certificate is only a summary; the endorsements behind it do the work. Before you sign, check whether the contract asks for:

1. specific per-occurrence and aggregate limits,
2. additional insured status for the landlord or customer (landlords commonly ask for the ISO CG 20 11 managers-or-lessors endorsement),
3. waiver of subrogation,
4. primary and noncontributory wording, and
5. an umbrella above the GL limit.

If you are the landlord rather than the tenant, our Missouri lessor’s risk insurance page covers what to require from tenants.

Getting an Accurate Missouri GL Quote

Carriers rate GL mostly on what you do (class code) and how big you are (often sales or payroll), adjusted for claims and location. To quote, we need a plain description of operations, annual revenue estimate, payroll if applicable, subcontractor costs, locations, prior claims, and any contract requirements. For many small businesses, pairing GL with property in a business owners policy is an option; see Missouri business insurance for the package view.

Missouri General Liability FAQs