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You probably have insurance in place to protect your home, car and health from the unexpected, but have you ever thought about putting protection in place in case you ever face a lawsuit for things like libel and slander? That’s where personal offense coverage comes into play. It’s a lesser known but important coverage available to add to your home insurance policy. Not sure what this coverage means? We’re here to help.
Your home insurance financially protects you from many unexpected incidents, whether you’re at your home or away from it. But, personal offense coverage doesn’t fall under the realm of protection provided by your standard homeowners policy. Insurance for personal offense is actually an additional coverage you can purchase on your homeowners insurance that’ll help protect you against personal offense allegations.
A personal injury certainly sounds like an injury that happens to you or even to another person — in fact, this type of insurance can often be confused with bodily injury or personal liability insurance. But, while bodily injury or personal liability insurance covers things like medical bills and legal fees if a guest is injured on your property, personal offense coverage covers something much different.
Personal offense insurance covers things like:
In today’s world, social media is more prevalent than ever. With the touch of a button, you (or your kids) can tweet, blog or post just about anything for just about anyone to view — which is why personal offense insurance is so important. Consider what would happen if someone sued you for a slanderous tweet you posted about them. Without personal offense coverage, defense costs and potential settlement fees will come right out of your own pocket.
Or, let’s say you rent out your basement apartment to a tenant and you entered into the apartment without their knowledge. Harmless as this may seem, your tenant sues you for wrongful entry. Having personal offense protection can help cover resulting legal fees.
Though personal offense coverage can help you in instances where you’re in trouble for libel or slander, it doesn’t mean you should go ahead and say or write defamatory statements. Just as your other home insurance coverages have limitations, a personal injury endorsement also has exclusions and limitations on what it’ll cover. For instance, if you knew what you were doing was wrong, or what you did was illegal, you likely won’t be covered.
Adding a personal injury endorsement to your homeowners insurance policy is rather affordable — typically adding only a few dollars a year to your premium. Personal offense coverage is an inexpensive option that’ll pay off if you or a family member face a lawsuit.
Contact your American Family Insurance agent to learn more about adding personal injury insurance to your homeowners insurance policy. Want an easy way to access your insurance information? Log in or sign up for My Account, where you can view your insurance info, file a claim, pay your bills and much more! Even better? You can do it all from the MyAmFam app. Download it today!
Related Topics: Home Insurance
