Do You Need A Personal Injury Endorsement On Your Homeowners’ Insurance Policy?

Posted on November 2, 2020 in Personal Injury Claim Process

A TikTok video can be up to one minute long. A tweet can reach 240 characters. Instagram captions and Facebook posts have no word limits. One thing that all of these have in common is that they could lead to a personal injury lawsuit being filed against you. If you, a spouse, or your child post something slanderous about someone else, the injured party could try to recover damages. This could cost you a tremendous amount of money, unless you have a personal injury endorsement on your homeowner’s insurance policy.

Most people do not fully understand what is included in their standard homeowner’s insurance policy. Policyholders often wrongfully assume that their policy will cover most types of lawsuits they could face for things that occur on their property. However, that is not the case. Here we want to discuss what a personal injury endorsement is and why you may want to consider purchasing one.

What is a personal injury endorsement?

Under most standard homeowner’s insurance policies, as well as the typical standard renter’s insurance policy, the only injuries that are covered under the terms of the policy are usually bodily injury damages not involving vehicle accidents or business-related injuries. The typical homeowner’s insurance policy will not cover a wide range of additional personal injury issues. That is why many people consider adding a personal injury rider (endorsement) to their policies. A homeowner’s insurance policy personal injury endorsement can cover the following incidents that could occur on the property:

  • Malicious prosecution
  • False arrest, imprisonment, or detention
  • Wrongful eviction of a tenant or resident
  • Written publication materials or oral material that slanders or libels another person
  • Written publication or oral transfer of materials that violate a person’s right to privacy
  • Wrongful entry into or the invasion of the right of private occupancy of a room, dwelling, or premises

Personal injury riders that are attached to a homeowner’s insurance policy also extend to cover emotional damages that another individual could file a lawsuit against you for. These endorsements will usually help cover the legal costs of defending yourself against any litigation that could arise.

As with all insurance policies, there are limits as to what a personal injury rider will cover. A personal injury endorsement on a homeowner’s insurance policy will not give it a person in the right to post, write, or say anything disturbing about other individuals. Personal injury riders on these policies will come with exclusions and limitations that must be adhered to by the policyholder. Additionally, if a person who has one of these personal injury endorsements on their policy does something that they know is wrong, it is very likely that the policy endorsement will not cover them. This also covers anything that the policyholder does that is illegal.

It is important to point out that personal injury endorsements on homeowner’s insurance policies are not retroactive. They will not cover anything that happened before the endorsement took effect.

Endorsements can help shore up a homeowner’s insurance policy

A personal injury endorsement is not the only rider that can be added to homeowner’s insurance policies. There are various exclusions in standard insurance policies for homeowners that may make it necessary to attach additional endorsements, depending on each homeowner’s particular situation. Some of the most common riders attached to these policies include the following:

  • Flood insurance endorsements
  • Personal property replacement cost endorsements
  • Home business endorsements
  • Earthquake endorsements
  • Watercraft endorsements
  • Theft coverage endorsements
  • Sewer backup endorsements
  • Scheduled personal property endorsements

If you are struggling to obtain insurance benefits in the aftermath of experiencing some sort of loss related to your property, you may need to seek assistance from a Portland personal injury attorney with experience handling aggressive insurance carriers. These cases can become complicated, but an attorney will help guide you through the complex insurance claims process.