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Any establishment that sells, serves, or assists in the purchase or use of liquor is open to a liability claim as a consequence of someone getting inebriated to the extent that injuries or property damage result.

If you are in the business of selling or serving alcohol, it is critical that you protect yourself from potential financial losses by obtaining a liquor liability insurance policy. Having the right policy in place could help cover your legal costs, court fees, and any civil or criminal damages stemming from an incident involving liquor.

Providing a valet service is convenient for your guests, but damaging a vehicle or property, or causing injury, is a very real risk associated with offering this service.

Obtain a general liability policy to protect your business from lawsuits by a third party. Be certain that a garagekeepers legal liability policy is also in effect with adequate limits to cover any physical damage to a guest's vehicle or other vehicles on-site. If you are using an independent valet service, obtain a certificate of insurance to verify they have the proper coverage with adequate limits. Also make sure that your business is named as an additional insured under their policy.

In the event of a covered cause of loss, most policies include coverage for the income you cannot collect. What happens if one of your key suppliers, such as your food or beverage distributor, is incapable of supplying you with what you need to keep your business running?

Make sure that your business income insurance includes contingent business income coverage to protect against the loss of potential earnings to your restaurant caused by the inability of a key vendor to provide a component necessary for the completion or execution of your services.

On average, it's estimated that three out of five businesses will be sued by their employees. Restaurants, just like any other business, are vulnerable from the pre-hire process through to a possible reduction in workforce. Claims can stem from just about anything, such as someone taking a "joke" the wrong way and being offended.

Coverage to protect you against this risk normally comes as a standalone policy. The right coverage is critical to your risk management process as it protects against discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and other employment-related allegations. Typically, the policy will cover your business as well as your directors and officers. Third party coverage is an added option, usually accomplished via a policy endorsement, and addresses claims made by customers or vendors against you from acts committed by employees.

Exterior signs associated with your business are vulnerable to fire, vandalism, and weather. Most commercial property policies offer a sublimit of coverage for signs, but it might not be enough.

Evaluate your sign exposures and determine if your existing commercial property insurance policy provides sufficient coverage. If not, increase the policy limit as required.

Equipment such as freezers, stoves, dishwashers, and air conditioning units are vital when running a restaurant. If a power surge or mechanical failure results in equipment breakdown, your business can experience expensive repairs and lost income.

Make sure you maintain systems breakdown insurance, including business interruption and spoilage coverage so that you can get your business up and running again without suffering financial setbacks.

As exposed by Superstorm Sandy and other significant weather events in recent years, flooding can occur in almost any location and to any business. Are you protected?

Flood insurance is typically not included in a commercial property insurance policy, but can generally be added by endorsement as long as the property is not in a high risk flood zone. If coverage is excluded from the policy, you should look into the cost to add it. If your property is in a high risk flood zone, you will need to obtain a standalone policy. In either case, it’s important to have coverage.

Just about all businesses rely on technology in some way; it's increasingly used to store sensitive information, such as credit cards, passwords, and social security numbers. However, you're at risk if this information is lost, stolen, or compromised. In fact, you may even be legally obligated to alert those impacted by the breach and possibly pay for any financial loss incurred.

Experiencing a data breach is often not a question of if but when. Securing a cyber liability policy can offer coverage for expenses associated with compliance regarding data breach notification laws, securing legal counsel to advise on incident response, credit monitoring services, and paying for regulatory defense, as well as penalties arising from privacy law violations.

Most restaurant owners remember to insure their contents, such as tables and chairs, but do not factor in the cost of the improvements they have made when selecting a building or contents limit.

If you have done or are considering a renovation to your restaurant, factor the cost into the building limit if you own the building or contents limit if you lease.

A power outage, mechanical failure, or other covered event can cause food to spoil, which then must be discarded.

This coverage will cover the replacement cost of the spoiled food. Most policies include coverage, but you should confirm the limit is sufficient.

Two things a restaurant has easily accessible are food and money. Employees have been known to run scams to pocket money or steal food to take home or give away to friends and family members.

Make sure you have coverage for employee theft. This can help compensate you for some of your financial losses.

If your restaurant offers food delivery service, whether the drivers are using their own vehicles or those owned by the company, you can be named in a lawsuit as a result of injury or damage caused by them while making a delivery for you.

A business auto insurance policy should be maintained if the vehicles are owned by the company. If employees are using their own vehicles to make deliveries, then hired and non-owned auto liability coverage should be maintained. Both will defend you if you are named in a lawsuit as a result of an employee getting into an accident while making a delivery for you.

If one of your employees receives an injury or becomes ill due to a work-related occurrence, you are required by law to have the proper coverage in place.

Workers' compensation protects your employees should a job-related injury or sickness occur during the course of employment. This coverage is required by law and may vary by area, so be sure that you understand your obligations for all physical locations where your business operates in and all physical locations where you hire your employees.

As a business owner, you've worked hard to build a solid business. But what happens when the unexpected happens? Are you covered?

A business owners policy is uniquely designed to protect your most important assets, including your business, its continuation, your employees, and your way of life. Discuss the details of this coverage with your agent and ensure that you're protected.

If you perform services for others, you are at risk of not doing the work correctly (errors) or not doing it at all (omissions). Lawsuits can arise claiming the error or omission harmed your client and caused them a financial loss.

Errors and omissions liability insurance protects any business that gives advice, makes educated recommendations, designs solutions, or represents the needs of others. Ensure you have this important coverage if you perform services for clients.

Directors and officers (such as board members) are exposed to increased risk factors and are held accountable for acts that claim negligence in the performance of their duties. Any resulting lawsuits are typically expensive to defend, resulting in potentially large settlements.

Obtain comprehensive coverage to protect senior individuals of your company. Directors and officers liability insurance provides coverage for the legal costs to defend a covered lawsuit and provides the money necessary for any settlement beyond the defense costs.

What happens when your business faces a large liability loss that exceeds the basic limit of your standard policy?

A commercial umbrella policy provides high limits of insurance, typically between $2,000,000 and $10,000,000. Coverage is extended over your general liability insurance, workers' compensation, business auto, as well as directors and officers liability coverage. It provides a great safety net and helps ensure your business is well protected.

Businesses are susceptible to many risks, such as claims due to bodily injury, property damage, personal injury, and more.

General liability insurance is an absolute necessity for any business. It provides broad coverage when you are deemed responsible and liable, and will also pay to defend any covered lawsuit or action regardless of its merit.

What will you do if one of your trusted employees is found guilty of doing something dishonest?

Crime and fidelity coverage is designed to provide coverage for employee dishonesty, forgery and depository, theft, destruction and disappearance, and more. Discuss the details of this coverage with your agent to learn more.

Could your business cause damage to the environment? If so, are you covered?

Environmental insurance provides protection if an environmental catastrophe occurs.

With technology performing many tasks in today's world, a breakdown can cause a significant financial burden, including the cost to repair the equipment, the interruption of your business, as well as any lost income and extra expenses.

Comprehensive coverage provides protection against equipment mechanical breakdown. Discuss the details of what's covered with your insurance agent.

If one of your employees receives an injury or becomes ill due to a work-related occurrence, you are required by law to have the proper coverage in place.

Workers' compensation protects your employees should a job-related injury or sickness occur during the course of employment. This coverage is required by law, so be sure that you understand your obligations.

An auto accident can cause bodily injury or property damage to others for which you are responsible, potentially putting your business in financial jeopardy.

Business auto insurance provides coverage for vehicles owned or leased by a commercial enterprise and provides coverage for bodily injury, property damage, and other coverages, and includes both comprehensive and collision coverage.

On average, it's estimated that three out of five businesses will be sued by their employees. While there is nothing you can do to prevent someone from filing a lawsuit, there is something you can do to limit the costs of defending a legal claim.

Obtain employment practices liability insurance to protect your business and its directors, officers, and employees from alleged employment-related acts such as wrongful termination, failure to promote, discrimination, and sexual harassment.

The Internet has spun a whole new web of liability exposures. E-commerce, social networking, cloud storage, and other technologies bring great benefits to large and small businesses alike. But with these benefits also come challenges, including protection of privacy, data, and financial information of your customers.

Cyber liability coverage covers unauthorized access to electronic data or software within your network. It also provides coverage for spreading a virus, computer theft, extortion, or any unintentional act, mistake, error, or omission made by an employee. This coverage is quickly becoming more and more important as you embrace technology to help run your businesses.

What would you do if a fire impacted the operation of your business? Or what if a pipe leak caused a system outage or extended downtime? These and other events can destroy your ability to serve clients and bring in revenue, which can have a major long-term impact on the viability of your business.

Business income insurance compensates you for lost income if the business cannot operate as normal due to damage that is covered under your commercial property insurance policy, such as fire or water damage. Business interruption insurance covers the revenue you would have earned, based on your financial records, had the incident not occurred. The policy also covers operating expenses, like electricity, that continue even though business activities have come to a temporary halt.

Your business property is a significant financial investment. What if something happens to it?

Commercial property insurance can help protect the property your business owns or leases, including things like equipment, inventory, furniture, and fixtures. Whether you own your building or lease your workspace, commercial property insurance can be purchased separately or can be combined with other necessary coverage to protect your business’ physical assets.

Most fires are devastating. Besides the emotional impact, the physical damage to your home can be significant. If you lost your home to fire, do you have adequate insurance to replace your home and its contents? Remember, inflation rates on building materials and construction costs rarely track with real estate values. As a result, rebuilding a home can often cost significantly more than expected.

Make sure your homeowners policy contains replacement cost coverage with no cap. This protects you if the cost to reconstruct your home is higher than your current limit of coverage. And, be sure that your insurance includes rebuilding your home to code. Very often, local ordinances and building codes change over time, which may require additional costs.

When your home suffers damage due to an unexpected event, your personal property is also at risk. Furniture, appliances, clothing, electronics, and other personal items can also be damaged or destroyed.

Your homeowners insurance policy typically covers personal property, including the contents of your home and other personal items owned by you or family members who live with you. Make sure your homeowners policy includes replacement cost coverage for personal property so that you always receive the full cost to replace whatever item is damaged.

When there is substantial damage to your home due to unexpected events such as lightning, fire, or a storm, you may not be able to live in your home until it can be repaired or rebuilt–potentially incurring additional living expenses for lodging, food, and other daily needs.

Ensure that your homeowners insurance policy provides additional living expense or loss of use coverage to compensate you for the additional costs you incur for reasonable housing and living expenses if a covered event makes your house temporarily uninhabitable while it's being repaired or rebuilt.

Typically, there is a sublimit on homeowner insurance policies for valuable possessions, such as jewelry, furs, fine arts, and other collectibles.

Obtain a personal floater or schedule your valuable possessions to ensure you’ll have the money to replace them.

If a guest is injured while on your property, even when it’s due to a friendly game of baseball, you may be required to pay any medical expenses associated with their injury.

Your homeowners policy should include medical expenses coverage to take care of injuries and treatment - generally not of a serious nature. In the event a person is injured on your property and requires medical attention, you would be able to submit the injury-related medical expenses to your insurance carrier. Medical expenses are usually paid without a liability claim being filed against you.

In the unfortunate event that someone slips and falls while on your property, you and your family may be held liable for any injuries that result.

Your homeowners policy includes personal liability coverage to respond to incidents where injuries or damages occur to a third party where you may be deemed negligent. However, you should consider purchasing a personal umbrella or excess liability policy to provide additional coverage limits to protect your assets in case a lawsuit is brought against you.

The fun that comes with having a trampoline in your backyard can also be accompanied by serious risks, which may not be covered under your standard homeowners insurance policy since coverage varies from state to state and between insurance companies.

You should make sure your homeowners insurance policy covers your trampoline, as many insurance providers refuse to take on trampoline liability and exclude the item from coverage.

Young people are usually very active online. However, using social media and other sites can increase the possibility of them directly or indirectly damaging someone's reputation and exposing you, the parent, to a lawsuit.

Your homeowners insurance policy includes liability coverage for property damage caused by any member in the family, but likely does not cover rumors or statements that damage a reputation. You may need to seek additional coverage to include liability protection that covers personal injury or defamation.

You invite guests over for a pool party and one of your guests dives into the shallow end of the pool and is permanently injured. They hire a lawyer to represent them and after a long legal battle, you and your family are left financially responsible for their injuries. Do you have enough money in savings to cover your legal responsibilities as well as the legal defense costs?

An umbrella or excess liability policy increases your personal liability limits by adding protection over and above your current auto, boat, or homeowners policies-providing financial value and security. Excess liability insurance is available either by an endorsement to your homeowners policy or available as separate coverage.

You do not have to live near a body of water to suffer loss due to flooding. With the changing weather patterns and more damaging storms occurring around the globe, flood losses are becoming more common in places that are not normally prone to flood damage. Your homeowners policy does not cover damage from flood. Could your home be at risk?

Purchase a flood insurance policy to protect your home and covered contents from certain types of flood losses as designated by the National Flood Insurance Program. A flood policy is purchased as a separate policy through the federal program (NFIP) or through a servicing carrier known as a write your own carrier.

Owning a secondary home has the potential of increasing your liability exposures.

Be certain that you extend the liability coverage under your homeowners policy to include your secondary home. You should also consider including the secondary home under an excess liability or umbrella policy to provide for additional liability limits.

Collector or classic vehicles often have significant value and require special documentation and unique insurance coverage to ensure they are adequately protected. Even if stored on your property, they are typically not covered under your homeowners insurance.

Insure your collector cars with a specialized insurance company that focuses on and understands the unique nature of collector or classic cars and other vehicles.

If you are a connoisseur of wine, you know that it is susceptible to outside environmental exposures that can ruin it. If the collection is damaged, coverage from your homeowners policy is a possible recourse. However, the damage is only insurable if it is a covered cause of loss as outlined in your homeowners policy. A deductible would also apply.

If you have a sizable wine collection, you may want to consider scheduling the collection on your homeowners policy. Doing so expands your coverage and eliminates the deductible in case of a loss. You can also consider unique coverages for wine, such as for spoilage.

Whether entering from outside your home from a flood or from within your home’s plumbing system, water damage is the most common cause of loss to a home. Many policies exclude losses caused by backup of sewers and drains, and all unendorsed homeowner policies exclude damage caused by a flood.

Careful review is essential to protect your home and belongings from all sources of water damage. We recommend coverage solutions from insurance companies that include backup of sewers and drains. Also, identify cost efficient solutions to address the risk of flood damage in the first place.

Surprisingly, standard auto insurance does not cover personal property or contents stolen from your car.

Most homeowners policies offer an option to include off-premises theft coverage as an endorsement, which covers you for theft of your personal property away from your residence.