Public liability forms part of the law of tort. This relates to civil wrongs, as opposed to criminal wrongs. Someone that suffers a tortious injury is usually entitled to claim damages for injuries suffered. This is of course just a simplification, but it’s aim is to show that public liability is governed by parts of UK law. As with most aspects of the law, judgements are based, in the main, on a mix of two things. Firstly, existing legislation and secondly precedents that have been set. We hear in the news of some law dating back to the 18th Century, for example, that is still in force. If a judgement is pursued under this law, it is up to the judge to balance on the one hand an antiquated piece of legislation and on the other, any judgements that have been made based on that law. The intention being that, on balance, the law is equally applied to one and all.
Public liability is the same. In theory, you can only be held liable if there is some proof of negligence. There are certain cases where you do not even need to be proven to be negligent, but mainly there has to be proof. Whether we all think it is for the good of the country or not, the UK was opened up to make it easier for the person in the street to pursue valid legal action. Certain solicitors have taken this just a bit too far. Again, we read in the news of some action that has been taken which 99 people out of 100 would say is just a joke but they are successful. This is why businesses need to have public liability insurance. There is no legal requirement, usually, to have this cover in force.
However, it is another one of our sensible and prudent covers to have. One of the main benefits of having this cover, is that the spurious claims can also be covered. What this means is that if you have a formal claim made against you, your insurers will deal with this and decline it on your behalf. We see the solicitors letters on a regular basis and if you are happily running your business and then receive a 28 page letter accusing of you x and asking you to prove y and respond by z, it can be very daunting and intimidating. Sometimes deliberately so. This is where you want the reassurance of having a robust policy in place. The other thing you want, and we can offer you, is a good business insurance broker that you can pass everything to and to deal with on your behalf.

