Does My Toronto Business Need Legal Expense Insurance?
Legal disputes can be expensive to resolve. You may think your Toronto small business doesn’t need legal expense insurance, but what if you needed to hire a lawyer due to a business dispute or lawsuit? Could you afford that on your own?
You could be facing contract disputes, employee disputes, tax disputes, trademark, or intellectual property (IP) disputes, or debt recovery. Small to medium-sized businesses, contractors, and self-employed professionals in Toronto can benefit from the protection of legal expense insurance.
Is your Toronto business downtown or are you located in one of the city’s many neighbourhoods?
Or are you located in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, York, and East York, in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or elsewhere in Ontario?
Your Western Financial Group business insurance expert will give you top-notch insurance advice about legal expense insurance at the right value for you.
What is legal expense insurance?
Legal expense insurance helps protect you against the legal cost of potential disputes. Typically, it helps cover the costs of legal advice, representation, and legal services.
It can help cover costs related to the litigation process, including investigations, pleadings and discovery, translation services, pre-trial mediation and arbitration, settlements, and appeals.
Coverage also includes legal action against a third party for causing a physical injury to you or one of your employees.
In civil cases, legal expense insurance covers you as the policyholder whether you are the plaintiff or the defendant.
As a legal expense policyholder, in some cases there will be a phone number in your legal expense insurance documents that will direct you to the proper legal team for help.
There are two types of legal expense insurance
Before-the-Event insurance is most commonly purchased by small- to medium-sized businesses to provide coverage for unforeseen legal events.
After-the-Event insurance provides coverage after a lawsuit has occurred, covering costs during legal action.
Ask your Western Financial Group business insurance expert which option is best for your Toronto business.
You’ll need legal expense insurance if you are a small-to-medium-sized business that needs occasional legal support.
You’ll need legal expense insurance if you do not have an internal legal team.
Here’s how legal expense insurance can help you
- A former employee steals intellectual property (IP) that was developed at your Toronto company and uses it in a company they’ve started. Legal expense insurance would help cover legal costs to pursue legal action over your stolen IP.
- You want to appeal a tax decision made by the Canada Revenue Agency related to your small company. Legal expense insurance would provide legal advice if to help you appeal the decision.
- Your Toronto small business is in a dispute with a client over unpaid bills. Legal expense insurance would help cover the legal costs to recover the unpaid amounts owing.
How much does legal expense insurance cost
The cost of determining your insurance premium is typically based on:
- Your field and the services you offer
- Any past legal issues
- Annual and projected revenues
Legal Expense Insurance is a specific, stand-alone policy that helps business owners with legal situations and disputes.
Legal expense insurance can be used in conjunction with errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, commercial general liability insurance, and directors and officers insurance to give you comprehensive legal support should your Toronto business be involved in a lawsuit or legal proceedings.
Here’s an insurance checklist:
- Do you have the best Toronto business insurance rate that suits your work?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for you?
- Are you or your employees using personal vehicles for work?
What do I do if I need to make an insurance claim as a Toronto professional?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- If there’s any damage, document it. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Western Financial Group has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get you legal expense insurance for your Toronto small business or as a Toronto professional. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect you.
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