Can I find liability insurance for my home?

It is very easy to find legal liability protection for your home without the need to purchase a separate liability insurance policy. Personal liability insurance for home is a special coverage available in Section II of every home insurance policy. So all you need to do to get liability insurance for your home, is get a Homeowners policy with good liability limits.

Why You Need Home Liability Insurance

Imagine the following hypothetical situations:

• Your otherwise cute, non-vicious Rottweiler attacks a random person in the street who files a tort claim against you for letting your dangerous dog loose.
• You invite a friend over for dinner and they trip on the watering hose while walking through the patio.
• While trying to fell an old tree in your garden, you accidentally break your neighbor's home window.
• You negligently break a costly chandelier while walking past it in the furniture shop.

Each of the above situations can happen to anyone and at any time, which makes it imperative for you to carry adequate liability insurance. Home owner policies are an excellent way of obtaining both protection for your home and its contents, and insurance against legal liability.

The Home Insurance Liability Coverage

There are two liability coverages included in Section II of a home insurance policy, as follows:

• Coverage E (personal liability insurance) protects the insured against liability for causing bodily injury or property damage to other people as a result of negligence. If the insured home owner is determined legally liable for causing a loss to a third party, the insurance provider pays all the damages to the injured party, up to the policy liability limits, and any defense costs, if applicable (claims are usually settled out of court). The minimum Coverage E liability limits are $100,000. You can increase your liability limits considerably by purchasing an umbrella policy.
• Coverage F pays the medical expenses of other people who have been injured in your home or by your actions, even though the insured might not have acted negligently.

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