Liquor liability insurance helps protect your business from alcohol-related incidents.

If your business sells or serves alcohol, liquor liability insurance is a must.

What does liquor liability insurance cover?

As a business that serves alcohol, liquor liability insurance is essential. This type of policy protects you and your business in the unfortunate event that a customer causes damage or injury after being served alcohol by your business.

Your business may be responsible for alcohol-related incidents.

While it might seem unfair, you can be held responsible if you sell alcohol to a customer who then causes property damage or injury to themselves or others while intoxicated. Even if you win in a court case, you could still face legal costs defending a claim. That’s a big problem, as many business policies specifically exclude any claim resulting from an alcohol-related incident. With liquor liability insurance, these costs may be covered by your policy.

Liability risks for businesses that serve alcohol.

To make things worse, most places have what are known as dram shop laws (places where alcohol is sold) that create strict liability for businesses that serve alcohol to somebody who is already intoxicated. That means you can be held responsible for their subsequent actions without any need for proof that you acted recklessly. And while any business that sells or serves alcohol needs this coverage, here are the different types of businesses or establishments that may need a liquor liability policy:

Additional coverage options to consider.

Liquor liability insurance covers against such cases, though you’ll need to check precisely what a policy covers. Look for assault and battery coverage, which covers claims against your staff—something that can easily arise if they are escorting a drunk patron off the premises. It may also be worth getting coverage against litigation costs to cover gray area cases where a court awards no damages but each side pays its own legal fees.

Do you run a business that serves or sells alcohol? Contact us to discuss your business and your liquor liability insurance needs.