A Small Spill. A $1.5 Million Lawsuit.

A $1.5 million lawsuit over a scoop of mashed potatoes sounds like a bad joke. But if you're the one writing the checks to run a business, a headline like that should actually make you sweat a little. 

According to a recent Burns & Wilcox article, a customer in Virginia is suing Outback Steakhouse for over $1.5 million dollars after allegedly slipping on some spilled potatoes near the restroom. It's easy to scroll past this and think it’s just a weird restaurant story, but it highlights a massive blind spot we see all the time.

Turns out, slip-and-fall incidents are one of the most common day-to-day risk a business faces, whether you operate a restaurant, a retail storefront, or a manufacturing facility.

And that brings us to a simple math problem.

For years, the standard baseline for most Commercial General Liability (CGL) policies has been a $1 million per-occurrence limit. Most business owners look at that number and think a million dollars is plenty of coverage for a routine accident.

But legal expenses, medical costs, and jury verdicts are skyrocketing across every industry. If a claim grows beyond the standard $1 million per-occurrence limit, that is when a Commercial Umbrella or Excess Liability policy can become an important part of the conversation.

This is why a Commercial Umbrella (or Excess Liability) policy is no longer an optional luxury. It sits on top of your primary insurance, waiting to step in the exact second a claim breaks through your standard $1 million ceiling. It’s the cushion you need to make sure one messy accident doesn't wipe out everything you've spent years building.

If you haven’t looked at your liability limits lately, it's worth taking ten minutes this week to check where your ceiling is.

At DiNicola Insurance Services, we help you protect your business with common sense. If you want to review your current liability limits, give us a call at 415.564.4400 or visit dinicolains.com. Also, check out the original article here.