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An often forgotten benefit of your liability insurance coverage


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Liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage forms the base of almost every aviation insurance policy.  Physical Damage coverage to your aircraft is optional on top of this.  It's good to know that in the event of a bodily injury or property damage claim against you, the insurance company will likely be paying the bill.

But before a payout on the policy occurs, one of the most valuable benefits of an insurance policy is the legal defense.

Aircraft insurance policies afford legal protection in the event of a claim for bodily injury and/or property damage.  That is to say that the Insurance Company has the legal obligation to provide a defense for you, the Insured, until the policy limits have been exhausted.  Yes, this obligation exists even in the event of a frivolous claim or suit against you.

By having liability coverage, you already have attorneys on your side which are provided at no charge by the insurance company.  Instead of you forking over $200-500/hour for legal defense for what could be seemingly-endless litigation, aviation specialists have your back.

In the next sponsored post, I'm going to provide advice for choosing a liability limit for bodily injury and property damage.

Parker

Airspeed Insurance Agency

214-295-5055

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33 minutes ago, Parker_Woodruff said:

Liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage forms the base of almost every aviation insurance policy.  Physical Damage coverage to your aircraft is optional on top of this.  It's good to know that in the event of a bodily injury or property damage claim against you, the insurance company will likely be paying the bill.

But before a payout on the policy occurs, one of the most valuable benefits of an insurance policy is the legal defense.

Aircraft insurance policies afford legal protection in the event of a claim for bodily injury and/or property damage.  That is to say that the Insurance Company has the legal obligation to provide a defense for you, the Insured, until the policy limits have been exhausted.  Yes, this obligation exists even in the event of a frivolous claim or suit against you.

By having liability coverage, you already have attorneys on your side which are provided at no charge by the insurance company.  Instead of you forking over $200-500/hour for legal defense for what could be seemingly-endless litigation, aviation specialists have your back.

In the next sponsored post, I'm going to provide advice for choosing a liability limit for bodily injury and property damage.

Parker

Airspeed Insurance Agency

214-295-5055

And one of the reasons I require to be added as named insured additional pilot with a waiver of subrogation to a clients policy. Things seem to go smoothly if the lawyers are all on the same side of the table. Great post Parker. While you are educating, please opine on the medical limits. I find them amusingly low

 

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This is a super good point.  This also came into play years ago when my father's plane was damaged by a shop (gross damage not just a little knick or bump).   Maybe this isn't really Liability like Parker's talking about but the insurance company stepped in and took over.  It was awesome.

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12 minutes ago, Kris_Adams said:

This is a super good point.  This also came into play years ago when my father's plane was damaged by a shop (gross damage not just a little knick or bump).   Maybe this isn't really Liability like Parker's talking about but the insurance company stepped in and took over.  It was awesome.

That is a big issue that really scares me the most when leaving the plane somewhere overnight or when leaving it with maintenance shops.  Damage to the airplane that was not caused by the owner.  In the last few months I've seen a rash of these: 

- Lineman plowed into a Cherokee with a tug, bending the prop and wrinkling the firewall

- Aircraft falling off jacks during retract testing

- Mechanic falling of the wing walk and damaging the flap and piercing the wing with a screwdriver

- Over steering when towing, bending the nose truss (it's not just Mooney's either)

It goes on and on....I get it, accidents happen, but I just hope I'm covered and the shop/person doing the damage makes it right.  :wacko:

Great article Parker.  Looking forward to the rest.

Brian

 

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And the two examples above show why it's a good idea to have physical damage coverage.  You can turn the claim into your insurance company to make you whole immediately and they will handle the subrogation instead of you having to hire an attorney to go after the shop (which is then just awkward, especially if you're otherwise on friendly terms with the shop).

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