“But liability insurance right now just means accidents and mishaps. Not deliberately targeting your business for litigo-warfare on ideological grounds.”
I was a litigation analyst in the insurance industry throughout most of my career, and retired after 35 years. Liability insurance is not limited to premises liability, slips-and-falls, etc. There are many types of liability insurance, under many different types of policies.
They cover YOU, the insured person or entity (the
policyholder, and whomever is defined as an insured under the policy) for a wide variety of risks, including — but not limited to — PO (premises and operations, under which you’ll find BI/PD: bodily injury/property damage); PI (personal injury, such as slander and libel); PL (professional liability); E&O (errors and omissions); etc. Then, there is auto liability; watercraft liability; et al.
The bottom line is liability insurance protects an insured from claims brought by a third-party for some type of injury, and legal expenses are part of the coverage provided (and those expenses are generally ON TOP OF policy limits placed on an injury, and are not limited, except under certain contracts).
All true. But I think the proliferation of this sort of persecution will entirely change the actuarial dynamic and reality of insurance for some. Premiums will have to go up for certain classes of business that are targeted by these SOBs, because the likelihood of defending extensive litigation and incurring huge legal bills is much greater.