What is Third Party Liability Insurance?
Third Party Liability Insurance for companies is a broad description of legal liability insurance policies covering the legal liability risk of any activity or business operations that results in harm being caused to a third party (anyone who is NOT the buyer of the policy or the buyer’s employees), and compensation being claimed against you for the alleged injury or damage the other party has suffered from your actions, or actions being done on your behalf (e.g. by subcontractors or other people working under your control).
All Third Party Liability insurance policies, whatever activity or service they cover, give insurance protection against only 2 kinds of harm that you are alleged to have caused to others:
- Bodily Injury / Disability or Sickness;
- Property Damage.
In modern liability insurance policies, Bodily Injury is usually widened to mean Personal Injury, which extends cover to the broader consequences of an injury to someone such as:
Shock, fright, mental anguish or mental injury
As well as further kinds of ‘personal injury’ under law:
- Defamation
- Invasion of privacy
- Alleged assault for the purpose of safety
- Wrongful entry or eviction.
It is not recommended to accept a Third Party Liability insurance policy which states cover is for Bodily Injury only. We can assist you to seek better liability insurance cover to modern, international standards.
What does Third Party Liability Insurance pay for?
Once a claim is accepted as valid, all Third Party Liability Insurance policies will, subject to the policy details, indemnify you for, or pay on your behalf, the costs of:
- Legal defence costs & expenses,
- Court costs, and
- Compensation you must pay to a third party, if the court awards damages against you.
Payments for punitive damages, exemplary damages or liquidated damages are not, and cannot be, insured.
Common Types of Third Party Liability Insurance Policies
Liability insurance policies can be known under different names despite what they insure being very much the same; legal claims against you for injury or property damage caused to others. Liability insurance buyers may be looking for any of these liability insurance terms:
We can explain the differences to you!
Negligent or Not?
Liability insurance buyers often wonder if they must be ‘negligent’ for a claim to occur, or how much negligent they must be, for protection to apply. In common law and other legal systems there can be a difference between simple ‘negligence’ and ‘gross negligence’. Yet Third Party Legal Liability insurance policies do not mention the word negligence at all. It is simply up to a court to decide if, under the civil laws of the time, whether the policy holder’s actions or inaction caused injury or property damage to a third party and the insured is therefore legally liability at law. If so, the third party legal liability insurance policy should respond within the conditions stated on the policy.
Generally speaking, third party legal liability insurance policies do not cover criminal, illegal or malicious acts. Neither do they insure legal liability from giving professional advice, which falls under a different insurance segment known as ‘Professional Liability’. Legal risks under Corporation laws from being a company owner or director (Directors & Officers Liability (D&O) do not fall within general legal liability insurance either.
Thailand Insurance Services will provide you with the right Third Party Liability Insurance from the leading insurance providers in Thailand for your business. We are the leading insurance broker in Thailand for Third Party Liability Insurance coverage.