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Professional Liability Insurance in Washington

Professional Liability Insurance in Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, and Oregon.

Durney Insurance Inc. is an independent insurance agency located in Washington. We provide high-quality professional liability insurance coverage to our communities in Washington and to residents in Arizona, California, Idaho, and Oregon.

Professional Liability Insurance Washington

Learn More About Professional Liability Insurance in Washington

What is professional liability insurance?

Working as a white-collar professional comes with professional risks. Should major errors be made in work or advice, clients could sue for compensation. Professional liability insurance may help Washington professionals insulate themselves from this type of risk.

Professional liability insurance provides tailored coverage for professionals who offer services and advice. Policies can cover a wide variety of errors, omissions and other mistakes.

Like most liability coverages, policies will typically help with attorney fees, court fees and a settlement if there’s a covered mistake.

Professional Liability Insurance Washington
Professional Liability Insurance Washington

Who working in Washington does professional liability coverage make sense for?

Professional liability coverage can be useful to a wide variety of professionals. Washington professionals working in finance, healthcare, law, real estate, IT and still more fields may want coverage. A few specific examples of who commonly purchases this type of policy include:

  • Investment advisors, wealth managers and asset managers
  • Doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and chiropractors
  • Lawyers, mediators, estate planners and paralegals
  • Real estate brokers and agents
  • IT specialists and consultants
  • Construction and trades (usually for when giving advice)

In many cases, policies purchased by a firm extend protection to employees. There are restrictions to the policies that firms purchase, though. Professionals might want a separate policy if their firm’s has low limits, or if they do side work in addition to their job.

Whether a professional liability policy covers pro-bono work largely depends on who purchases the policy:

  • Employer: An employer’s policy normally only applies to work done for the employer. It’s unlikely to apply to pro-bono that professionals do on their own, although it might apply to pro-bono work that the firm takes on (e.g. pro-bono legal cases a firm accepts).
  • Charity: A charity’s policy normally applies to employees and volunteers of the charity, and would likely apply to pro-bono work done for the organization. Professionals should double-check that the charity’s policy has sufficient coverage, however.
  • Professional: When professionals, themselves, purchase a policy, the coverage may extend to both paid and unpaid work that they do. They should work closely with an insurance agent who knows this coverage well, however, to make sure a policy will insure all of the work they do.

Professional liability coverage is available for a range of fields that people work in. Some common types, and who they normally cover, are:

Errors and omissions is often shortened E&O coverage, and it’s purchased by many different professionals. Investment advisors, real estate agents and even tradespeople might all want this type of policy when advising clients.

Independent contractors generally can get professional liability coverage from the firm or business that hires them, but this is far from guaranteed. 

Since independent contractors technically are self-employed, they usually have to be added onto a firm or business’s policy if they’re to receive coverage. Firms may be willing to do this, or they might not want to. Contractors should make sure the paperwork is taken care of when a firm does extend their policy’s coverage.

Many professional liability policies now cover online services, but it’s important to check the specific terms of a policy. A knowledgeable insurance agent can help with checking policy details.

A retroactive date normally indicates the earliest date that an error could’ve occurred and still be covered by the policy. These dates are common in claims-made policies, which typically base coverage on when a claim is filed. Claims-made policies may cover errors made before the policy was purchased, so long as they occurred on or after the retroactive date.

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Where can professionals in Washington find the right professional liability insurance?

If you work in Washington and need professional liability insurance, contact the independent insurance agents at Durney Insurance. We’ll make sure you find the right professional liability policy for your work.

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