Summary: Professional liability insurance for hospitals, physicians, dentists, other medical practitioners, and lawyers, and errors and omissions insurance for the purveyors of a wide variety of professional services, such as accountants, architects, engineers, and insurance agents or brokers, are designed primarily for protection against liability that may arise from rendering or failing to render services within the context of the insured's profession. These types of insurance are designed for people who represent themselves to the public as possessing special skills in their profession. Basically, the insuring agreement of all these forms, standard and nonstandard, provides for the payment on behalf of the insured of all sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of injury arising out of malpractice, error, or mistake of the insured, or of a person for whose acts or omissions the insured is legally responsible in conducting his or her profession.

Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance, on the other hand, is designed to cover an insured's liability stemming from exposures on the insured's premises or from the more concrete and physical actions of the insured's operations; liability stemming from the insured's products and completed operations can also be included in the general liability area. The general liability insuring agreement promises to pay on behalf of the insured all sums that the insured shall become legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage caused by an occurrence.

This article discusses the issue of when professional liability coverage is called for as opposed to general liability coverage.