Personal and Advertising Injury

What is personal and advertising injury?

Personal and advertising injury involves actions that could negatively affect someone's public image or emotional well-being.

Personal and advertising injury coverage protects against legal issues stemming from your business's relationships and marketing activities. It safeguards a variety of professions from claims like libel, slander, copyright infringement, and privacy invasion. This coverage is included in general liability insurance.

What does personal and advertising injury cover?

Personal and advertising injury insurance covers claims related to privacy and advertising issues. More specifically, personal injury covers harm to someone's reputation or rights. Advertising injury focuses on issues connected to how you promote your products and services. Your liability coverage will protect against both types of claims.

Personal and advertising injury examples can be broken into two categories:

Personal injury

Personal injury claims can include:

• Libel and slander: False statements that harm someone's reputation through writing, images, or spoken words. For example, spreading bad word of mouth to customers about a competitor could qualify as a personal injury.
• False arrest: Unlawfully detaining a person or preventing their freedom of movement, such as a business owner holding someone they suspect of vandalism.
• Malicious prosecution: Making civil or criminal charges against a person or business without evidence and with harmful intent.
• Wrongful eviction or entry: Wrongful eviction is when a landlord illegally forces a tenant out of their home. Wrongful entry is when someone enters another person's property without the right to do so.
• Invasion of privacy: Intruding into someone's personal life, such as unauthorized spying or sharing private details without permission.

Advertising injury

Advertising injury claims typically involve:

• Defamation: Misrepresenting another person or business through ads.
• Copyright infringement: Unauthorized use, reproduction, or distribution of copyrighted material in marketing content.
• Using another business's advertising idea: Driving sales for your company with promotional ideas that are already uniquely identified with another person or business.

How does personal and advertising injury coverage work?

Personal and advertising injury insurance has distinct limits from other coverages on your general liability policy. You'll want enough protection to cover the potential costs of defending against a personal and advertising injury liability claim, which could include:

• Legal and court fees
• Judgments
• Settlements
• Arbitration or mediation

Consulting with an insurance expert can help you better understand your risks and balance coverage against cost.

What personal and advertising injury doesn't cover

Personal and advertising injury has some exclusions, including purposely violating another person's rights. This is because insurance is meant to protect against unforeseen losses, not deliberate acts. In other words, intention matters when it comes to insurance claims.

For example, say a landlord evicts a tenant for what they mistakenly believe is a legal reason. If the tenant sues, the owner's personal and advertising injury coverage would help pay for legal expenses. However, if the owner knew the eviction was illegal, this action would not be covered.

This coverage also won't protect against the following:

• Intentional criminal acts: Insurance won't cover you if you knowingly break the law.
• Breach of contract: Personal and advertising injury doesn't protect if you consciously ignore the terms of a contract or legal agreement.
• Employment claims: Employee claims related to discrimination, harassment, and defamation would need to be covered by employment practices liability insurance.
• False advertising: Listing the wrong prices for goods and services in advertisements would not be covered.

Speak to an agent to learn more about personal and advertising injury coverages and exclusions.

Get personal and advertising injury coverage with Progressive

Progressive can help your business get the personal and advertising injury coverage it needs. Our agents can customize a policy to your unique situation and give you the confidence that your insurance will protect you from unexpected events. Get peace of mind and stay focused on what matters most.