GL:  BASIC TRAINING
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Wm Haycook     SPOTLIGHT  FEB/01

One of the most confusing things about General Liability insurance is the extensive
use of unfamiliar terms. It’s as though a mystifying language was created just for
General Liability [GL] insurance.

In order to demystify some of this, let’s start with basic training.

Every commercial insurance policy indicates the General Liability limits being provided.  On the declarations page of your policy you will see some combination of the following GL elements with a dollar limit after each element.

Per Occurrence
General Aggregate
Products & Completed Operations
Personal & Advertising Injury
Fire Damage
Medical Expense

Per Occurrence is the maximum amount of money your policy will pay for any single claim during a given policy period.

General Aggregate is the maximum amount of money your policy will pay for all claims combined during a given policy period.

Products & Completed Operations is coverage most commonly needed by businesses that manufacture, sell or distribute products.  However, this element does provide some coverage to theatre groups that sell or distribute food products.  Be careful, however.  If you hire a caterer make sure she has her own insurance to cover her potential negligence.

Personal & Advertising Injury is coverage that protects you in such areas as malicious prosecution, false arrest, libel, slander, violations of privacy, misappropriation of advertising ideas, copyright violations etc.  This is important coverage for your theatre group to have; especially the advertising injury aspects.  Be warned however.  If you produce a play without getting permission or paying for the production rights you are committing a criminal act.  If you use pieces of music with out paying royalties, you are committing a criminal act. No insurance will protect you against knowing violations of the law.

Fire Damage coverage is extremely important when you rent, lease or use someone else’s property.  If you rent a performance space, the owner wants to be protected in case a patron is injured while attending your production.  He wants your insurance to pay for such bodily injuries.  The owner also wants his property protected against damages you might cause while occupying his premises.  Fire damage coverage provides such protection.

Medical Expense is the amount of money the insurance company might pay for claims without regard to negligence.  If you carry a million dollar GL limit, an injured party would have to establish that you were negligent before he could reasonably expect to collect any portion of that money.  However, in many small injury claims, the insurance company is willing to pay for simple medical expenses resulting from injuries without regard to negligence.  Look carefully at your insurance policy to see what limit you have for this coverage.  It is very important coverage to have because it allows the insurance company to settle most claims quickly and to the satisfaction of everyone involved.

For more information about this and many other aspects of theatre insurance, go online to www.theatreinsruance.com
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