What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?

General liability covers bodily injury and property damage, the physical stuff that happens when a customer trips in your office.

What is professional liability or errors and omissions (E&O) insurance?

Pays when a service provider's mistake causes a client a financial loss. Like malpractice for non-medical professions.

What specialty commercial classes does Philadelphia Insurance cover in Georgia?

Philadelphia Insurance Companies (PHLY) is backed by Tokio Marine Group and specializes in industry niches.

What insurance do Lawrenceville healthcare professionals need?

Lawrenceville has a large healthcare and medical professional community concentrated around Gwinnett Medical Center.

What do claims-made limits mean on Georgia professional liability?

A claims-made policy only pays if both the incident and the claim are reported while the policy is active, and it uses a retroactive date; tail coverage extends the reporting window after cancellation.

Professional Liability FAQs

What does claims-made mean on a professional liability policy?

All FAQs

Quick answer: Claims-made policies cover claims reported during the policy period, regardless of when the error occurred, as long as it happened after the retroactive date.

Professional liability policies use one of two trigger structures: claims-made or occurrence. A claims-made policy responds only when a claim is first reported while the policy is active. An occurrence policy responds based on when the wrongful act happened, not when the complaint arrives. Most professional liability coverage sold today uses the claims-made structure. See claims-made vs occurrence for a side-by-side comparison.

What two dates control whether a claims-made policy responds?

Two dates determine whether a claims-made policy covers a given situation.

Retroactive date: The earliest date from which the policy will consider covered acts. If the professional service that led to the claim was performed before the retroactive date, the policy will not respond regardless of when the claim arrives. Retroactive dates are typically set to the date continuous, uninterrupted coverage was first purchased with that insurer or policy form.
Policy effective date and expiration: The claim must be first made before the policy expires. A complaint received one day after the policy ends does not trigger coverage under that policy.

Why does continuous coverage matter on a claims-made policy?

Because the policy must be active when the claim arrives, a lapse creates a window where an act performed in the past could generate a claim with no policy to respond to it. The old policy is expired. The new policy has not yet received the claim. Neither pays.

For example, an architect cancels her professional liability policy in January and purchases a new one in March after two months without coverage. In April, a client files a complaint about design work completed the prior year. The old policy is expired. The new policy, depending on its retroactive date, may not reach back far enough to cover work done before March. The two-month gap leaves the architect uninsured for that claim.

What is tail coverage and when is it needed?

When a claims-made policy is cancelled or not renewed, an extended reporting period, often called a tail, preserves the right to report claims for acts that occurred before the expiration date. Tail coverage is typically purchased separately and can be costly. A multi-year tail on a medical professional policy can run 150-200% of the expiring annual premium. For a deeper walkthrough of how this works in Georgia, see the Georgia professional liability insurance guide.

The alternative is to ask the incoming insurer for a retroactive date that reaches back to the prior coverage inception. That accomplishes a similar result without a separate tail purchase, provided the new carrier agrees to the retroactive date.

What happens to prior acts when switching professional liability carriers?

Switching insurers requires attention to the retroactive date offered by the new carrier. If the new policy sets the retroactive date at inception rather than matching the prior continuous coverage history, acts performed years ago fall into an uninsured gap.

For example, a consultant who has carried professional liability since 2018 switches carriers in 2026. The new carrier sets a retroactive date of 2026. Any claim arising from advice given between 2018 and 2025 now has no coverage, even though continuous policies were in place throughout that period. Matching the retroactive date to the original 2018 start closes that gap. Owners and officers weighing similar exposures may also want to review management liability coverage, which responds to a different set of claims.

How do I make sure my professional liability structure does not leave gaps?

The right retroactive date, tail length, and policy structure depend on the profession, claims history, and how long continuous coverage has been maintained. A licensed advisor can review the specific situation and explain the options available. Schedule a coverage review with Olive Cover, the consumer brand of Olive Insurance Services, LLC, to confirm the professional liability structure does not leave unintended gaps.