ContextualUnder reviewcommercial lines

What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?

Effective: August 31, 2026
Last reviewed: August 31, 2026
Author: Aaron Bollinger
Reviewer: Brian Bollinger
Sources: 9 records

They respond to different kinds of harm: in the standard advisory commercial general liability coverage form CG 00 01 04 13, Coverage A pays sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage, applies only if that injury or damage occurs during the policy period, and the form carries a separate Coverage B for personal and advertising injury [4]. Professional liability, also sold as errors and omissions, is described by regulators and state risk managers as responding to claims that an error, omission, or mistake in professional services or judgment harmed a client [3][7][2]. Oregon's state risk management office states that professional liability and errors and omissions policies are generally issued on a claims made basis, which is a different trigger from the occurrence trigger in CG 00 01 04 13 [7][4]. Filed endorsements exist that remove liability arising out of rendering professional services from a general liability policy [5][6], and a contract can require both coverages [8]. This describes specific named forms and general descriptions, not any policy you hold: read your own form and endorsement schedule, because only the carrier decides a claim.

What this assumes

General US commercial insurance market as of August 2026. This is general information, not a coverage determination for any specific policy, risk, or claim.
Statements about form wording refer only to the specific advisory forms named here, CG 00 01 04 13, CG 22 43 04 13, and CG 22 79 04 13, and not to any carrier's manuscript wording. Read your own form.
No declarations page, endorsement schedule, or contract insurance exhibit has been reviewed here.
The business or professional practice is the insured; personal lines coverage is out of scope.

Why this is the answer

Commercial general liability is built around third-party bodily injury and property damage. In CG 00 01 04 13, Coverage A obligates the insurer to pay those sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies, with the right and duty to defend against any suit seeking those damages, and it applies only if the bodily injury or property damage occurs during the policy period [4]. That same form carries a separate Coverage B for personal and advertising injury liability and a defined products-completed operations hazard [4]. Regulator consumer guides describe the same shape. Virginia's guide says premises and operations coverage pays bodily injury and property damage claims to members of the public as a result of an accident on your premises or arising out of your operations, and that products and completed operations covers liability arising from the handling, use of, existence of any condition in, or warranty of goods your business manufactured, sold, handled, or distributed after the product is given to others and is away from the business premises [2]. The California Department of Insurance guide names three primary coverage sections, premises liability, products liability and completed operations, and says the CGL policy has separate limits of insurance for general liability, fire legal liability, products and completed operations liability, advertising and personal liability, and medical payments [1].

A broad professional services exclusion is added by endorsement rather than appearing in the base coverage form. Read end to end, CG 00 01 04 13 uses the word professional exactly three times, and none of the three is a broad professional services exclusion: the Coverage C medical expense wording about professional nursing and funeral services, the Who Is An Insured provision about providing or failing to provide professional health care services, and clause (3) of the insured contract definition, which removes that part of a contract under which the insured, if an architect, engineer or surveyor, assumes liability for injury or damage arising out of the insured's rendering or failure to render professional services, including supervisory, inspection, architectural or engineering activities [4]. The broad exclusions arrive as separate filed endorsements. CG 22 43 04 13 states that it modifies the commercial general liability coverage part and adds to Paragraph 2. Exclusions of both Coverage A and Coverage B that the insurance does not apply to bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury arising out of the rendering of or failure to render any professional services by you or any engineer, architect or surveyor who is either employed by you or performing work on your behalf in such capacity, and it defines professional services to include preparing or approving maps, shop drawings, opinions, reports, surveys, field orders, change orders or drawings and specifications, and supervisory, inspection, architectural or engineering activities [5]. These endorsements state what they exclude. They do not state why.

Professional liability answers a different question: whether a mistake in professional work cost a client money. Wisconsin's insurance regulator describes errors and omissions, also known as professional liability, as protecting professional people or organizations from claims arising from failing to render professional services to their clients as expected of a person in their profession [3]. Oregon's state risk management office describes the coverage as liability resulting from errors and omissions or mistakes made in performance of professional services or judgment, and says most policies cover economic losses, failure to perform, error or omission of product or service, and contract disputes [7]. Virginia frames it as paying liability claims arising from wrongful acts, errors and omissions, and malpractice by physicians, attorneys, or other professionals, and adds that errors and omissions insurance is also available for non-professionals such as corporate directors and officers [2].

The trigger differs, and that matters more than most buyers expect. Wisconsin puts the contrast plainly: a policy written on an occurrence basis covers losses that arise from incidents occurring during the policy term, while a policy written on a claims-made basis covers losses arising from incidents occurring during the policy term but only if the claim is made during the policy term [3]. Oregon's risk management office states that professional liability and errors and omissions policies are generally issued on a claims made basis and directs staff to require tail coverage for all claims made coverage [7]. Virginia states the consequence of an expiring claims-made policy without overstating it: if a claims-made policy expires, it may be necessary to purchase tail coverage, and tail coverage covers claims resulting from incidents which occurred while the claims-made policy was in force but which are reported after the policy has expired [2]. Contract requirements often address the same gap. Public Health - Seattle and King County requires each insurance policy to be written on an occurrence basis or form, accepts a claims made basis or form only with prior county approval, and where claims made coverage is approved requires the contractor to warrant continuation of coverage, either through policy renewals or the purchase of an extended discovery period if such extended coverage is available, for not less than three years from the date of contract termination or conversion to an occurrence coverage form [8].

Where the two lines meet, the endorsement wording is what has to be read, because the filed endorsements do not say the same thing. CG 22 43 04 13 reaches professional services rendered by the named insured or by any engineer, architect or surveyor who is either employed by the named insured or performing work on its behalf in that capacity [5]. CG 22 79 04 13 applies only with respect to providing engineering, architectural or surveying services to others in the insured's capacity as an engineer, architect or surveyor, or providing or hiring independent professionals to provide such services in connection with construction work the insured performs, and its Paragraph 3 states that professional services do not include services within construction means, methods, techniques, sequences and procedures employed by the insured in connection with its operations in its capacity as a construction contractor [6]. A 2014 expert commentary describes CG 22 43, CG 22 79 and CG 22 80 as materially different in the scope of the coverage eliminated, and states that CG 22 43 is no longer intended by the filing organization for use with contractors engaged in construction operations [9]. None of that decides anything about a particular loss. Whether a specific claim falls inside or outside an exclusion is decided by the carrier under the policy actually in force, and a dispute about that decision is a legal question for a lawyer.

Carrying both policies is a common contract requirement rather than an insurance-law rule. Oregon's risk management guidance says many times it is appropriate to require both professional liability and commercial general liability coverage, and explains its reasoning as recovering under the general liability coverage when a professional liability insurer denies the claim [7]. Public Health - Seattle and King County requires commercial general liability of its contractors and adds that in the event services delivered under the contract either directly or indirectly involve or require professional services, professional liability, errors, and omissions coverage shall be provided [8]. Both are purchasing requirements imposed by particular contracting bodies on their own contracts, not requirements imposed on businesses generally.

The label on the policy settles very little; the form governs. Even the three government sources here describe professional liability in different words, from failing to render professional services as expected of a person in the profession [3], to wrongful acts, errors and omissions, and malpractice [2], to errors, omissions or mistakes in professional services or judgment producing economic loss [7]. Read the definition of professional services, the retroactive date, the reporting period, and the defense cost provisions in the specific policy and the endorsements attached to it. Coverage can also be specific to the profession: Oregon notes that participation in the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund, which provides $300,000 aggregate limits, is mandatory for all attorneys engaged in private practice whose principal office is in Oregon [7]. That is one state and one profession, and it says nothing about requirements elsewhere.

What changes the answer

Whether a professional services exclusion endorsement is attached to the general liability policy, and which one, since CG 00 01 04 13 contains no broad version and the filed endorsements differ in what they reach [4][5][6].
Whether the harm alleged is bodily injury or property damage, or instead an economic loss said to arise from professional work [2][7].
Whether the professional liability policy is written claims made, and what its tail coverage or extended reporting period provisions say [7][3][2].
Whether a contract dictates specific coverages, limits, and occurrence versus claims made forms, since contracting bodies set their own rules for their own contracts [8].
The profession involved, since coverage is described as specific to the nature of the profession and some professions operate their own mandatory programs, such as the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund for attorneys in private practice in Oregon [7].

Where it varies by state, form, carrier, or fact

Which exclusion endorsement is attached changes the answer materially. CG 22 43 04 13 reaches professional services by the named insured or by an engineer, architect or surveyor employed by or performing work on behalf of the named insured in that capacity, while CG 22 79 04 13 applies only to the described engineering, architectural and surveying operations and states that professional services do not include services within construction means, methods, techniques, sequences and procedures [5][6].
A 2014 expert commentary describes CG 22 43, CG 22 79 and CG 22 80 as materially different in the scope of coverage eliminated and says CG 22 80 is aimed at design-build contractors [9]. CG 22 80 itself was not retrieved for this entry, so every statement here about that form rests on that single dated secondary source.
Government consumer guides describe these products in different words, and none of them is a coverage definition binding on any particular carrier's form [3][2][1].
Contract requirements vary by contracting party. One county requires occurrence forms by default, accepts claims made only with prior approval, and then requires continuation for not less than three years [8], while a state risk management office simply advises requiring both coverages where appropriate [7].

Next actions

Pull the declarations and endorsement schedule of the current general liability policy and look for any endorsement whose title contains the word professional, for example CG 22 43 or CG 22 79, then read that endorsement's actual wording rather than its title [5][6].
Read the insurance exhibit of any contract you have signed or are about to sign and note whether it names both commercial general liability and professional liability, the required limits, and whether it requires an occurrence form or permits claims made with a continuation requirement [8].
If a professional liability policy is in force, locate the retroactive date and the extended reporting period or tail provisions and confirm whether the coverage reaches back to when the work in question was performed [7][2].
Put a concrete hypothetical claim in writing to your carrier or broker, ask which policy they believe would respond and under which provision, and keep the reply in writing.
Check whether your own profession's licensing body or bar operates a required coverage program, as Oregon's does for attorneys in private practice, since that sits outside the commercial general liability form entirely [7].

Source ledger

9 sources. Every citation number above resolves to a record below. Nothing here sits behind an account.

[1]
Commercial Insurance Guide (CDI Form 700)(opens the original record on California Department of Insurance)
California Department of InsuranceRegulatorPrimaryJurisdiction CALast checked August 31, 2026Updates: revised by the California Department of Insurance without a fixed schedule; the page carries the marker Form 700 Revised June 14, 2024ID ca-cdi-commercial-insurance-guide
What this source supports (33)
The guide's glossary entry headed 'Claims Made' reads: a liability insurance policy where coverage applies to claims filed during the policy period no matter when the loss occurred subject to a retroactive inception date.
The guide's glossary entry headed 'Occurrence' reads: a liability insurance policy that covers claims arising out of occurrences that take place during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is filed.
CDI states that there are three primary coverage sections that make up a CGL policy: premises liability, products liability and completed operations.
CDI describes CGL coverage as comprehensive in nature, covering all hazards within the scope of the insuring agreement that are not otherwise excluded.
CDI states that the major exclusions under a CGL policy include intentional injury; insured contracts; liquor liability; workers compensation and employers liability; pollution; aircraft; automobile; watercraft; mobile equipment; war; care, custody, and control; damage to your work; impaired property; sistership liability; and failure to perform.
CDI describes specified perils as consisting of a list of each peril to be insured against, such as fire, explosion, windstorm and vandalism, and describes open perils coverage as covering all losses unless they are specifically excluded.
CDI states that earth movement (including earthquake) and flood are two common perils that are excluded under open perils coverage.
CDI describes three commercial property valuation approaches: actual cash value, agreed value, which it says waives any coinsurance penalty and pays 100 percent of the stated amount, and replacement cost, which it describes as the amount it takes to replace property with new property of like kind and quality up to the limits of insurance.
CDI describes coinsurance as an insurance clause that defines the amount of each loss the company pays according to the amount of insurance carried divided by the amount of insurance required, and states that a policyholder can be subject to a monetary penalty at the time of a loss where a building is not insured to value.
CDI states that business interruption coverage replaces lost business income after a covered loss.
CDI describes a Business Owners Policy (BOP) as a combination commercial policy that covers property, general liability and business interruption.
CDI states that when a business has had three applications turned down from a licensed commercial insurance carrier, with written documentation of the declination, it can proceed to obtain insurance from the surplus line market.
CDI states that a surplus line company can only be accessed through a specially licensed broker who holds a surplus line license issued by the CDI.
CDI states that although surplus line insurers must follow the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations, the CDI has limited jurisdiction over the operation of surplus line insurers.
CDI states that the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), which protects claims with admitted insurers, does not apply to surplus line insurers.
There are three primary coverage sections that make up a CGL policy: premises liability, products liability and completed operations.
Premises liability covers liability for accidental injury or property damage that results from either a condition on your premises or your operations in progress, whether on or away from your premises.
A products liability hazard exists for any business that manufactures, sells, handles, or distributes goods or products.
Completed operations covers your potential liability for bodily injury or property damage that arises out of your completed work.
The CGL policy has separate limits of insurance for general liability, fire legal liability, products and completed operations liability, advertising and personal liability, and medical payments.
The page carries the line Form 700 Revised June 14, 2024.
The guide states that inland marine is a specialized type of property insurance that primarily covers damage to or destruction of your business property while in transport.
The guide states that inland marine insurance can cover a variety of transportation exposures, however it does not cover boating transportation, which is covered under ocean marine insurance.
The guide states that some of the most common types of coverage offered are accounts receivable insurance, consignment insurance, equipment floaters (i.e., contractors equipment), installation floaters, motor truck cargo insurance, trip transit insurance, and valuable papers (records) insurance.
The guide states that standard perils in inland marine may include fire, lightning, windstorm, flood, earthquake, landslide, theft, collision, derailment, overturn of the transporting vehicle, and bridge collapse.
The guide states that commercial property insurance can protect a business owner from some of the most common losses experienced by business owners, such as property damage, business interruption, theft, liability, and worker injury.
The guide states that an aggregate limit of liability is in force for the general liability, fire legal liability, advertising and personal liability, and medical payments claims.
The guide states that when total claims for all these areas exceed a stated annual aggregate limit of liability, the policy limits are exhausted and no more claims will be paid from the policy for the duration of the policy period.
The guide states that there is also a separate aggregate limit of liability in force for products and completed operations liability claims.
The guide defines split limits as the technique for expressing limits of liability coverage under a particular insurance policy by stating separate limits for different types of claims growing out of a single event or combination of events.
The guide states that if a building is not insured to value the insured can be subject to a monetary penalty at the time of a loss, commonly referred to as coinsurance, and defines coinsurance as an insurance clause that defines the amount of each loss that the company pays according to the amount of insurance carried, divided by the amount of insurance required.
The guide states that the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA), which protects claims with admitted insurers, does not apply to surplus line insurers.
The guide states that while surplus line companies are not licensed by the CDI, they do have to go through an approval process that includes providing evidence of minimum capital and surplus requirements.
Fetched 2026-08-31 and both glossary entries read off the page. The '?page=3' query parameter used in the earlier draft is inert and has been dropped from the URL. publishedDate is taken from the page's own 'Form 700 Revised June 14, 2024' marker. This is a consumer guide glossary and the weakest authority in the bundle; it is cited only for the two trigger definitions. It does not address retroactive dates, extended reporting periods, or which lines are written on which trigger. Published: 2024-06-14 Effective: 2024-06-14
Active
[2]
Virginia Commercial Insurance Guide(opens the original record on Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of Insurance)
Virginia State Corporation Commission, Bureau of InsuranceRegulatorPrimaryJurisdiction VALast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Maintained as a standing consumer guide by the Bureau of Insurance; no revision date is shown on the page.ID va-scc-commercial-insurance-guide
What this source supports (7)
Premises and Operations coverage pays bodily injury and property damage claims to members of the public as a result of an accident on your premises or arising out of your operations.
Products and Completed Operations covers liability arising from the handling, use of, existence of any condition in, or warranty of any goods or products manufactured, sold, handled, or distributed by your business after the product is given to others and is away from the business premises.
Professional Liability Insurance pays liability claims arising from wrongful acts, errors and omissions, and malpractice by physicians, attorneys, or other professionals.
Errors and omissions insurance is also available for non-professionals such as corporate directors and officers who may be held liable for losses caused by their errors or oversights.
A Commercial General Liability policy provides many liability coverages under one contract.
A policy written on an occurrence basis covers incidents that occur during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is reported to the insurance company, even if it is reported after the policy expires; a policy written on a claims-made basis covers only those claims reported during the policy period.
If a claims-made policy expires, it may be necessary to purchase tail coverage, and tail coverage covers claims resulting from incidents which occurred while a claims-made policy was in force but which are reported after the policy has expired.
Fetched and read in full on 2026-08-31. The HTML document title is Virginia SCC - Virginia Commercial Insurance Guide and the on-page heading reads Virginia Consumer's Guide for Commercial Insurance; the document title is used here. The guide does not address how policy forms or terms vary between insurers, so it is not cited for any market-uniformity point.
Active
[3]
Consumer's Guide to Commercial Liability Insurance (PI-045)(opens the original record on Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance)
Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of InsuranceRegulatorPrimaryJurisdiction WILast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Revised periodically; the edition retrieved on 2026-08-31 carries the footer PI-045 (R 08/2026).ID wi-oci-pi-045-commercial-liability-guide
What this source supports (4)
Errors and Omissions coverage, also known as professional liability, is available for numerous types of professionals, and the coverage protects professional people or organizations from claims arising from failing to render professional services to their clients as expected of a person in their profession.
A policy written on an occurrence basis covers losses that arise from incidents occurring during the policy term, while a policy written on a claims-made basis covers losses that arise from incidents occurring during the policy term but only if the claim is made during the policy term.
Product coverage is to protect against losses arising out of the manufacturing, selling, handling, or distribution of a product, and completed operations coverage protects against claims arising out of services performed by a business, such as a building contractor.
The guide advises commercial buyers to know if their policy is written on an occurrence or claims-made basis.
PDF retrieved and text extracted with pdftotext on 2026-08-31. Every page footer reads PI-045 (R 08/2026), so this is a newer edition than the R 12/2024 printing; publishedDate records the month and year the document itself prints, not a day. The guide's claims-made description is simplified and does not discuss retroactive dates, so it is not relied on for retroactive date mechanics. Published: 2026-08
Active
[4]
Commercial General Liability Coverage Form CG 00 01 04 13(opens the original record on Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the County of Sonoma, California))
Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the County of Sonoma, California)Standards bodyPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Advisory form revised by the filing organization on multi-year cycles; the 04 13 edition is the one reviewed.ID iso-cg-00-01-04-13-2
What this source supports (5)
Coverage A obligates the insurer to pay those sums the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage to which the insurance applies, and gives the insurer the right and duty to defend the insured against any suit seeking those damages.
The form is occurrence-triggered: the insurance applies to bodily injury and property damage only if the bodily injury or property damage occurs during the policy period.
Occurrence is defined as an accident, including continuous or repeated exposure to substantially the same general harmful conditions.
The unendorsed form contains no broad professional services exclusion. The word professional appears three times in the whole form: in the Coverage C medical expense wording about professional nursing and funeral services, in the Who Is An Insured provision about providing or failing to provide professional health care services, and in clause (3) of the insured contract definition, which excludes that part of a contract under which the insured, if an architect, engineer or surveyor, assumes liability for an injury or damage arising out of the insured's rendering or failure to render professional services, including supervisory, inspection, architectural or engineering activities.
The form contains a separate Coverage B for personal and advertising injury liability and a defined products-completed operations hazard.
PDF retrieved on 2026-08-31 and the full 16-page text extracted with pdftotext. Header reads COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY CG 00 01 04 13 and the footer carries the Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2012 copyright line. The form prints only the edition designation 04 13, so publishedDate and effectiveDate record the month and year of that edition rather than a day. The hosting path is a county CMS path that may break; an identical copy of the same edition was retrieved and text-compared on 2026-08-31 at https://www.argogroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CG-00-01-04-13-Form.pdf.pdf, and the operative wording matched. Published: 2013-04 Effective: 2013-04
Active
[5]
Exclusion - Engineers, Architects Or Surveyors Professional Liability, Form CG 22 43 04 13(opens the original record on Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas))
Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas)Standards bodyPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Advisory endorsement revised on multi-year cycles; the 04 13 edition is the one reviewed.ID iso-cg-22-43-04-13
What this source supports (4)
The endorsement states that it modifies insurance provided under the Commercial General Liability Coverage Part and adds an exclusion to Paragraph 2. Exclusions of both Coverage A and Coverage B.
The added exclusion states that the insurance does not apply to bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury arising out of the rendering of or failure to render any professional services by you or any engineer, architect or surveyor who is either employed by you or performing work on your behalf in such capacity.
The endorsement states that professional services include the preparing, approving, or failing to prepare or approve, maps, shop drawings, opinions, reports, surveys, field orders, change orders or drawings and specifications, and supervisory, inspection, architectural or engineering activities.
The exclusion applies even if the claims against any insured allege negligence or other wrongdoing in the supervision, hiring, employment, training or monitoring of others by that insured, if the occurrence or offense involved the rendering of or failure to render any professional services by you or any engineer, architect or surveyor who is either employed by you or performing work on your behalf in such capacity.
PDF retrieved on 2026-08-31 and the complete one-page endorsement extracted with pdftotext and read in full. Header reads COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY CG 22 43 04 13, footer reads CG 22 43 04 13, Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2012, Page 1 of 1. The form prints only the edition designation 04 13, so publishedDate and effectiveDate record month and year, not a day. The scope of the exclusion is limited to the named insured and to engineers, architects or surveyors employed by or working on behalf of the named insured in that capacity; it is not a general exclusion of everyone working on the insured's behalf. Published: 2013-04 Effective: 2013-04
Active
[6]
Exclusion - Contractors - Professional Liability, Form CG 22 79 04 13(opens the original record on Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the New York State Office of General Services))
Insurance Services Office, Inc. (specimen published publicly by the New York State Office of General Services)Standards bodyPrimaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Advisory endorsement revised on multi-year cycles; the 04 13 edition is the one reviewed.ID iso-cg-22-79-04-13
What this source supports (3)
The endorsement excludes bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury arising out of the rendering of or failure to render any professional services by you or on your behalf, but only with respect to providing engineering, architectural or surveying services to others in your capacity as an engineer, architect or surveyor, and providing, or hiring independent professionals to provide, engineering, architectural or surveying services in connection with construction work you perform.
Paragraph 3 states that professional services do not include services within construction means, methods, techniques, sequences and procedures employed by you in connection with your operations in your capacity as a construction contractor.
The exclusion applies even if the claims against any insured allege negligence or other wrongdoing in the supervision, hiring, employment, training or monitoring of others by that insured, if the occurrence or offense involved the rendering of or failure to render any professional services by you or on your behalf with respect to the operations described in the endorsement.
PDF retrieved on 2026-08-31 and the complete one-page endorsement extracted with pdftotext and read in full. Header reads COMMERCIAL GENERAL LIABILITY CG 22 79 04 13, footer reads CG 22 79 04 13, Insurance Services Office, Inc., 2012, Page 1 of 1. The form prints only the edition designation 04 13, so publishedDate and effectiveDate record month and year, not a day. Any comparison of this endorsement's breadth against CG 22 43 is an inference and is not text on the form, so comparative statements are attributed to the secondary commentary instead. Published: 2013-04 Effective: 2013-04
Active
[7]
Insurance Clauses - Professional Liability/Errors and Omissions(opens the original record on Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Risk Management)
Oregon Department of Administrative Services, Risk ManagementSecondarySecondaryJurisdiction ORLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Maintained as standing contracting guidance by the state risk management office; no revision date is shown on the page.ID or-das-professional-liability-clauses
What this source supports (6)
The page describes professional liability and errors and omissions coverage as covering liability resulting from errors and omissions or mistakes made in performance of professional services or judgment.
Most policies cover economic losses, failure to perform, error or omission of product or service, and contract disputes.
Professional Liability and Errors and Omissions insurance policies are generally issued on a claims made basis, and the page directs staff to require tail coverage for all claims made coverage.
The model contract clause requires either an extended reporting period of not less than 24 months, or that the contractor maintain tail coverage or continuous claims made liability coverage for a stated minimum period after the contract work is completed or terminated.
Many times, it is appropriate to require both Professional Liability and Commercial General Liability Coverage, and when a professional liability insurer denies the claim the state may be able to recover the loss under the commercial general liability coverage.
Coverage is specific to the nature of the profession; for attorneys, the Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund provides $300,000 aggregate limits of coverage, and participation in this program is mandatory for all attorneys engaged in private practice whose principal office is in Oregon.
Fetched and read in full on 2026-08-31. Publisher caveat: DAS Risk Management is a state risk-management and contracting office, not an insurance regulator, so this page states government purchasing practice and general descriptions rather than insurance law. authorityLevel is set to secondary for that reason. The Oregon State Bar Professional Liability Fund statement is specific to Oregon attorneys in private practice and says nothing about other professions or other states. Re-verified on 2026-08-31: the page does carry the sentences 'A Professional Liability policy only covers the acts of the insured (professional). This type of policy will never name another person or entity as additional insured.' That absolute was previously repeated in this entry as a rule about the professional liability line. It has been removed from the prose and from this claims array, because a state purchasing office asserting a blanket never is not evidence of what every professional liability form does, no policy form in this entry addresses additional insured status on a professional liability policy, and none was located that would support the general statement. Additional insured treatment on either line is therefore left to the endorsements actually attached to the policy in hand.
Active
[8]
Insurance requirements(opens the original record on Public Health - Seattle & King County)
Public Health - Seattle & King CountySecondarySecondaryJurisdiction WALast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Standing contract requirements page; no revision date is shown on the page.ID kingcounty-insurance-requirements
What this source supports (4)
The page requires commercial general liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in the aggregate for bodily injury, personal and advertising injury and property damage, with coverage at least as broad as that afforded under ISO form number CG 00 01 current edition or its substantive equivalent.
In the event that services delivered pursuant to the contract either directly or indirectly involve or require professional services, Professional Liability, Errors, and Omissions coverage shall be provided, at $1,000,000 per claim and in the aggregate.
Each insurance policy shall be written on an occurrence basis or form, except that insurance on a claims made basis or form may be acceptable with prior County approval.
If coverage is approved and purchased on a claims made basis or form, the contractor warrants continuation of coverage, either through policy renewals or the purchase of an extended discovery period, if such extended coverage is available, for not less than three years from the date of contract termination and/or conversion from a claims made form to an occurrence coverage form.
Fetched and read in full on 2026-08-31. Publisher caveat: this is a county contracting authority, not an insurance regulator, and these requirements apply only to its own contracts, so authorityLevel is set to secondary. Used to show that a real public contract can require both coverages and treats the occurrence versus claims made distinction as material. The page itself uses an en dash in its name; the ASCII hyphen is used here.
Active
[9]
The CGL and the Professional Liability Exclusion(opens the original record on International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), expert commentary by Craig Stanovich)
International Risk Management Institute (IRMI), expert commentary by Craig StanovichSecondarySecondaryJurisdiction USLast checked August 31, 2026Updates: Expert commentary article dated April 1, 2014; no stated update cadence and no visible revision since.ID irmi-cgl-professional-liability-exclusion
What this source supports (3)
The article states that each of the endorsements CG 22 43, CG 22 79 and CG 22 80 is materially different in the scope of the coverage eliminated, and that these endorsements are generally intended to remove coverage from the contractor's CGL policy for engineering, architectural, or surveying services.
The article states that the endorsement CG 22 43 is no longer intended by ISO to be used with contractors engaged in construction operations.
The article states that CG 22 80 is aimed at design-build contractors.
Fetched and read on 2026-08-31; the full article is publicly readable. Author Craig Stanovich, dated April 1, 2014. Used only to describe differences among the filed exclusion endorsements; the operative wording of CG 22 43 04 13 and CG 22 79 04 13 was independently verified by extracting and reading those forms. The article does not state an underwriting, pricing, or coverage-intent rationale for why the professional services exclusion exists, so no such rationale is attributed to it. CG 22 80 itself was not retrieved, so every CG 22 80 statement in this entry rests on this single 2014 secondary source and is labeled as such in the prose. Published: 2014-04-01
Active

Report an error on this pageCorrections are checked against the original record. Material changes are logged on the corrections page.

Cite this page

These records contain public page facts only: title, operator, dates, canonical URL, and content version. They never include a question, an input, or an identifier.

Plain text

BestInsurance Research. "What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?." WJB Services, Inc. dba Bollinsure Insurance Services. Published August 31, 2026. Last reviewed August 31, 2026. Content version 2026.08.31. https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/questions/general-liability-vs-professional-liability

BibTeX

@misc{bir-general-liability-vs-professional-liability-2026,
  title        = {What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?},
  author       = {Aaron Bollinger},
  organization = {BestInsurance Research},
  institution  = {WJB Services, Inc. dba Bollinsure Insurance Services},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {08},
  note         = {Last reviewed August 31, 2026; content version 2026.08.31},
  howpublished = {\url{https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/questions/general-liability-vs-professional-liability}},
  urldate      = {2026-08-31}
}

CSL JSON

[
  {
    "id": "general-liability-vs-professional-liability",
    "type": "webpage",
    "title": "What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?",
    "container-title": "BestInsurance Research",
    "publisher": "WJB Services, Inc. dba Bollinsure Insurance Services",
    "author": [
      {
        "literal": "Aaron Bollinger"
      }
    ],
    "URL": "https://bestinsuranceresearch.com/questions/general-liability-vs-professional-liability",
    "issued": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          31
        ]
      ]
    },
    "accessed": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          2026,
          8,
          31
        ]
      ]
    },
    "version": "2026.08.31",
    "genre": "question"
  }
]

Machine-readable record for this page: /questions/general-liability-vs-professional-liability.json

What is a claims-made retroactive date?

On a claims-made liability policy written with a retroactive date, that date is the earliest point at which the injury, damage, or wrongful act can have happened and still fall ins

ContextualReviewed August 31, 2026

When can a contract require additional insured status?

A contract can ask for additional insured status, but only a change to the insurance policy can grant it. On the standard ISO forms, that change is an additional insured endorsemen

ContextualReviewed August 31, 2026

Why can two insurance policies with the same limit protect differently?

The limit is a ceiling on payment, not a description of what is covered, so two policies printing the same number can behave very differently. The number itself can mean different

EstablishedReviewed August 31, 2026

Need a licensed review?

Whether a given operation's exposure sits with the general liability policy or the professional liability policy depends on the exact endorsement attached and on the contract wording, and the filed exclusion endorsements differ materially from one another. A licensed review can read the actual declarations, endorsement schedule, and contract insurance exhibit and point out gaps between the two policies, which no general explanation can do. A review is not a coverage determination, and only the carrier can decide a claim.

You do not need this to use the research above. The answer, its sources, and its limits stay on this page whether or not you take this step.

Call a broker on (562) 268-9355 Request a quote from Bollinsure Email quotes@bollinsure.com

BestInsurance Research provides general information. Licensed help is offered by Bollinsure Insurance Services, a California insurance brokerage. Bollinsure is the operator of this site and may be compensated by an insurer when it places coverage. It is not the only source of licensed help: you can work with any licensed broker or agent, or contact an insurer directly. These links carry only the page path, the insurance family, and, from a tool, the tool name and a rounded completion percentage. Your question and anything you typed into a tool are never included.

Direct answer