What You Should Know About Professional Liability Insurance Coverage

What Is Professional Liability?

Professional liability is incurred when certain standards of performance are not met or when services are rendered by a person with specialized training or experience in a particular area and the service fails to meet the reasonable expectations of the recipient.

Why Is Professional Liability Coverage Important?

You have personal assets attained through years of savings and hard work. A professional liability policy can act as a safeguard to protect your assets if you are sued as a result of an event arising out of your educational duties.

Won't My School Provide This Coverage?

Although the school for which you work should have adequate liability coverage, that may not always be the case. Your school plan may have a single limit of liability, such as $1 million or $2 million a year, that covers the entire school, its administrators, board members, teachers, staff and other employees. That limit of liability must be spread over all claims filed during the policy year. In the event a suit is filed involving the school, the board and you ... there may not be enough coverage to fully protect everyone. That is why supplemental coverage is necessary.

The Educators Professional Liability Plan provides excess protection over any coverage you may receive from your school plan. This coverage is dedicated solely for your protection in the event your school does not cover your alleged liability or defense costs. Also keep in mind that your school district's plan may not cover you, your attorney's fees or the act that triggered the lawsuit. For example, if you're named in a suit that does not ask for monetary damages, your school's plan may not respond. This plan will. The wrong time to find out about the inadequacies of your school's policy is when a suit is filed naming you as a defendant.

What Are Some Examples of Professional Liability Claims?

• On a field trip, a student disobeys instructions, leaves the group, falls and is injured. His parents sue the educator who led the trip, alleging improper supervision.
• A member of a religious club is injured on school property and sues. The school board refused to defend the principal named in the suit, alleging the principal acted recklessly in allowing the school to be used by the religious club.
• A teacher is sued for failure to supervise after a student is injured using a table saw in shop class.
• A university administrator was sued for challenging a professor tenure recommendation.
• A school refuses to defend its principal who is accused of failing to take action to stop harassment of a student. The school claimed its liability policy excludes emotional distress and harassment of a student by other students.
• A teacher who accuses an aide of insubordination is sued by the aide for false accusations which led to termination.
• A university professor was sued for putting a student on academic probation that resulted in the student's dismissal.
• A superintendent authorizes repairs to a school. Years later, when the repairs are alleged to have been faulty, resulting in a lawsuit, a new school board refuses to defend the superintendent on grounds that he did not have authority to authorize the repairs.
• An educator is sued for improperly disciplining a student with a behavioral IEP in place.
• An educator is sued for allegedly making a defamatory statement about a student.

Why Buy Professional Liability Coverage from Forrest T. Jones & Company?

The Educators Professional Liability Plan is available exclusively through professional associations that participate in the Trust for Insuring Educators (TIE), a national purchasing group formed in 1973 to provide insurance programs to educators at affordable group rates. Today, TIE comprises more than 60 educational associations with more than 1.5 million members, and its insurance plans are offered exclusively through Forrest T. Jones & Company. Rates for employed educators begin as low as $94 per year* for $1 million in liability coverage, and $2 million in coverage is available in all states for less than $140 per year. You also can add professional liability coverage for your part-time educational activities for an additional charge.

* The $94 annual rate is available in AR, AZ, CT, FL, ID, MA, ME, MO, MT and WV. Rates begin at $99 per year in all other states.