I recently came across a perfect example of why insuring a business for public liability is so necessary. And it all started with a tiny oversight.
This case study follows a company that sold and supplied control systems for large agricultural businesses. The job in question was one that involved installing a sensor array into a group of silos used for storing grain. The sensors would be connected to a control system that regulated things like temperature and humidity within each silo, with the aim of prolonging the useful life of the stored grain, and keeping it in a controlled state. However, a subcontractor forgot to wire up one of the silos correctly, and his mistake wasn’t uncovered for nigh on two years. Unfortunately, the stock was pretty much waste product by then.
Grain silos are large objects. Very large. A single silo can store anything up to several thousand tons of grain for the very biggest, and certain several hundred tons for smaller ones. That amount of grain represents a lot of money, or in this case, a sizeable loss. The grain store decided to sue the firm that did the installation, holding them culpable for this loss.
The grain owners sued for several million dollars. There was no way the sensor firm could afford to compensate the grain owners for that kind of money, so the directors would have had no choice but to dissolve the firm, putting everyone they employed out of work. However, this sort of risk had previously been identified, and a public liability policy purchased to address this.
All legal correspondence was forwarded to the company’s insurer who then took on the responsibility of communicating with the grain owners and going through due process for establishing negligence. As it was established the company had been at fault, a figure for compensation was worked out and then paid on behalf of the company, without them having to foot what was an enormous bill.
It’s worth noting here that even if the business had not been liable, the high cost of legal fees defending themselves could still have had potentially serious financial consequences, so public liability cover is worthwhile even if you are not at fault.
M Withers is Marketing Manager for Coversure Insurance Services. For a public liability insurance quote or more information about any other kind of business insurance, please visit our site.