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General Liability (GL)
Protects your business against third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, and personal or advertising injury arising from your operations.
General Liability for Early Teams
Every time a client visits your studio, you run a launch event, or a courier walks through your door, something can go wrong. General Liability is the base layer that answers when a third party — someone who isn't on your payroll — is hurt or has property damaged because of how your business operates. It's the policy most leases, vendor contracts, and investors ask for, and usually the first one a young company buys.
Get a GL quoteYour company operates in the physical world. General Liability answers for the moments when the physical world pushes back.
What's Actually Inside Your GL Policy
Coverage structure under form BRM GL 0240. Limits shown are illustrative and may differ from your issued policy. Important: the descriptions on this page are general summaries for informational purposes only. They do not constitute a policy, binder, or guarantee of coverage. Coverage is provided only under the terms, conditions, exclusions, and limits of the issued policy. Always refer to your policy wording and declarations page for the governing terms. If this summary and the policy conflict, the policy controls.
FORM BRM-GL-0240
Commercial
General Liability
Self-insured retention$2,500 per claim
Bodily Injury Liability
Per occurrence$1,000,000
Personal & Advertising Injury
Per offense$1,000,000
Property Damage Liability
Aggregate$2,000,000
Products / Completed Ops
Aggregate$2,000,000
Damage to Premises
Any one premises$150,000
Medical Payments
Any one person$7,500
Plain English on the Left. Policy Language on the Right.
What this policy actually pays for.
If this happens…
…your GL responds here
A courier catches a foot on a floor cable in your studio and fractures a wrist.1
Coverage A — Bodily Injury Liability
Your policy pays the legal defense and any settlement or judgment for third-party bodily injury arising out of your premises or operations. The injured person's medical bills, lost wages, and pain-and-suffering claim are covered up to your per-occurrence limit. The insurer carries a duty to defend covered claims, so defense counsel is appointed and paid on your behalf, subject to the applicable retention.
Available limits
Up to $1M per occurrence / $2M general aggregate
A rival argues your newest campaign lifted their tagline.2
Coverage B — Personal and Advertising Injury
If a third party alleges your advertising caused harm — misappropriation of an advertising idea or slogan, for instance — the policy covers the defense and any resulting damages. This applies to claims made about your promotional content, not about the product itself.
Available limits
Up to $1M per offense (within the general aggregate)
Your team demos hardware at a trade show and the rig topples onto a neighbouring booth's monitor.3
Coverage A — Property Damage Liability
When your operations physically damage someone else's tangible property, GL steps in for the repair or replacement cost plus your legal defense. This applies to property you do not own, rent, or have in your care.
Available limits
Up to $1M per occurrence / $2M general aggregate
A visitor needs urgent care after a small fall in your lobby, and nobody wants a lawsuit.4
Coverage C — Medical Payments
Your GL also includes Coverage C — Medical Payments, a no-fault coverage that pays reasonable medical expense for third parties injured on your premises or by your operations, regardless of whether you were negligent. It settles small incidents before they turn into suits.
Typical limit
$7.5K–$12K per person
Scenario notes
- 1GL is an occurrence-based policy underwritten by Northline Risk Retention Group. The insurer holds a duty to defend covered claims. A per-occurrence self-insured retention applies — you are responsible for costs inside the retention before the insurer's obligations attach. Refer to your declarations page for your specific retention and limits.
- 2Coverage B applies to the enumerated "personal and advertising injury" offenses only. It does not reach claims arising from professional services, breach of contract, or knowing violations. Patent infringement is excluded. If your business is primarily media-based, Coverage B may be narrowed — ask your advisor about the media and internet business exclusion.
- 3The care, custody, or control exclusion applies: property in your possession, or property you are actively working on, is not covered under GL. If your crew is installing equipment at a client site and damages the equipment being installed, that scenario falls outside the policy.
- 4Medical Payments (Coverage C) is a no-fault coverage with its own per-person limit, separate from the liability coverages. It applies to injuries on your premises or arising from your operations, including off-premises. It does not apply to your employees or to persons normally occupying the premises.
Policy notes
- •GL does not cover professional errors or omissions, cyber incidents, employment disputes, auto accidents, or intentional acts. Products-completed operations carries its own separate aggregate limit. Fines, penalties, and punitive damages sit outside the definition of "Damages." Refer to your policy for the complete exclusion list.
- •Contractual liability coverage applies only to liability assumed under an "insured contract" as defined in the policy — chiefly leases, easements, and agreements where you take on another party's legal liability for injury or damage. General breach-of-contract claims are not covered.
- •The scenarios above are illustrative examples only and do not guarantee coverage for any specific claim. Actual coverage depends on the facts of each claim and the specific terms of your issued policy. Results may differ based on endorsements, exclusions, limits, and applicable law.
How GL Compares
General Liability, Tech E&O, and Cyber each answer a different claim trigger and coverage boundary.
General Liability
What triggers it: physical-world incidents — someone is hurt or their property is damaged. Type of harm covered: bodily injury, property damage, and certain advertising offenses. Common scenario: a visitor slips in your office. Key difference: it covers the physical world. If nobody was injured and no tangible property was damaged, GL probably isn't the policy you need.
Tech E&O
What triggers it: professional mistakes — your service or product causes a client financial harm. Type of harm covered: financial loss from errors, omissions, or negligent acts in your technical work. Common scenario: your forecasting engine miscalculates and a client places $640K in bad orders. Key difference: it covers your professional work product. If the claim is about what you built or delivered, this is where it lives.
Cyber Liability
What triggers it: data and network incidents — a breach or security failure leads to third-party claims. Type of harm covered: third-party liability from unauthorized access, data disclosure, or network failure. Common scenario: an intruder exfiltrates 63K customer records and a class action follows. Key difference: it covers the digital perimeter. If the claim involves unauthorized data access or network compromise, start here.
Industry Applicability & Compliance
Coverage Trigger
Coverage A — Bodily Injury Liability responds when a courier catches a foot on a floor cable in your studio and fractures a wrist.
Policy Boundaries
GL is an occurrence-based policy underwritten by Northline Risk Retention Group. The insurer has a duty to defend covered claims. A per-occurrence retention applies — you are responsible for costs within the retention before the insurer's obligations attach. Refer to your declarations page for your specific retention and limits. Coverage B applies to enumerated "personal and advertising injury" offenses only. It does not reach claims arising from professional services, breach of contract, or knowing violations.
Available Extensions
Available add-ons include the Hired and Non-Owned Auto endorsement, the Waiver of Subrogation endorsement, and the Additional Insured endorsement. Endorsements are required where noted and availability may vary by jurisdiction and underwriting.
Available Add-ons
Hired and Non-Owned Auto (HNOA) Endorsement
Extends your GL to liability arising when employees drive personal or rented vehicles on company business. If your team drives to client meetings, collects supplies, or rents cars on work trips, this closes the gap between their personal auto policy and your company's exposure. [Endorsement required — see the HNOA product page]
Waiver of Subrogation Endorsement
Some landlords and enterprise clients require you to waive your insurer's right to recover costs from them after a claim. This endorsement satisfies that contractual requirement. [Endorsement required]
Additional Insured Endorsement
Adds your landlord, client, or business partner as an additional insured on your policy — a common requirement in commercial leases and service agreements. [Endorsement required]
Our Core Coverages
GL is the foundation. Layer in Tech E&O, Cyber, D&O and more — modular cover that grows with the company.
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Cyber Liability
Protects against losses and claims that follow data breaches, intrusions, and network security failures.
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Tech & AI Liability
Covers claims alleging your technology products or services failed to perform as intended, causing financial harm to a client.
Instant quote
Directors & Officers
Covers claims made against company leaders for alleged wrongful acts in managing the business.
Instant quote
Employment Practices (EPL)
Protects against claims alleging wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, or other employment-related issues.
Instant quote
Fiduciary Liability
Protects your company and plan fiduciaries against claims alleging mismanagement of employee benefit plans, including retirement and health plans.
Instant quote
Media Liability
Protects against claims arising from your published or distributed content, including allegations of defamation, copyright infringement, or invasion of privacy.
Instant quote
Hired and Non-Owned Auto (HNOA)
Provides liability coverage when employees use rented or personal vehicles for company business.
2–12 days turnaround
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
Combines general liability and commercial property into a single policy designed for small and growing businesses.
GL Glossary
Key terms drawn from the policy language and the approved coverage summary.
- Occurrence
- A single accident or event, including continuous or repeated exposure to the same harmful conditions. GL is "occurrence-based," meaning it covers events that happen during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is filed.
- Bodily Injury
- Physical harm, sickness, or disease sustained by a person, including death resulting at any time. Stand-alone emotional distress without physical injury is not bodily injury under GL.
- Property Damage
- Physical injury to tangible property, including the loss of use of that property. A smashed monitor counts. Corrupted data does not — electronic data is not tangible property under this policy.
- Products-Completed Operations
- Coverage for bodily injury or property damage arising from your product or completed work after it has left your possession or the job is done. It carries its own separate aggregate limit within the policy.
- Sublimit
- A limit inside the policy that caps coverage for a specific type of claim at a lower amount than the overall policy limit. Sublimits are part of, not in addition to, the aggregate limit.
- Duty-to-Defend
- The insurer's obligation to provide and pay for your legal defense when a covered claim is made. This differs from a duty-to-reimburse model (common in D&O), where you select your own counsel and the insurer reimburses costs.
- General Aggregate
- The maximum total your policy will pay for all covered claims in a single policy period, excluding certain categories such as products-completed operations. Once you reach the aggregate, the policy stops paying.
- Per-Occurrence Limit
- The most your policy will pay for any single occurrence. If a $2M judgment comes out of one event and your per-occurrence limit is $1M, the policy pays $1M.
- Insured Contract
- A specific category of contracts where your GL covers liability you have assumed from someone else. Leases are the most common example. A standard software agreement is generally not an insured contract.
- Retention (Self-Insured Retention / SIR)
- The amount you pay out of pocket before your insurance responds. Think of it as a deductible, except you typically manage the claim until you reach the retention amount.
Continue Reading
Go deeper on GL and the rest of the early-stage insurance stack.
General Liability Insurance for Early-Stage Companies
Bramble JournalFebruary 6th 2025
What Startup Insurance Really Costs by Stage
Bramble JournalApril 22nd 2026
Tech E&O Insurance for Product Teams
Bramble JournalFebruary 19th 2025
The Founder's Guide to Buying Coverage
Bramble JournalMarch 30th 2026
FAQ
What does General Liability cover?
Third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, and a defined set of personal and advertising injury offenses arising out of your premises or operations, including the cost of defending covered claims.
When does the policy respond?
GL is occurrence-based: it responds to events that take place during the policy period, whenever the claim is eventually filed, subject to your retention and limits.
What are the key limits and exclusions?
Limits run per occurrence and per aggregate, with a separate products-completed operations aggregate. Professional errors, cyber incidents, employment disputes, owned-auto accidents, and intentional acts sit outside the policy.
Are add-ons available?
Yes — Hired and Non-Owned Auto, Waiver of Subrogation, and Additional Insured endorsements are the three most requested. Availability varies by jurisdiction and underwriting.
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Industries that need General Liability
Bramble writes the coverage founders actually need. Build quickly, stay covered, keep it under one roof.
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