Personal Injury
Personal Injury, in the insurance context, is a category of liability covering non-physical harm to a person's reputation, rights, or emotional well-being, as distinguished from bodily injury. It's part of the Personal and Advertising Injury coverage in your general liability policy and includes offenses like false arrest, malicious prosecution, wrongful eviction, invasion of privacy, libel, slander, and defamation.
What You Need to Know
These are intentional torts that damage someone's reputation, dignity, or legal rights rather than causing physical injury. While most restaurant owners think of liability insurance as covering slip-and-fall accidents and bodily injuries, your general liability policy's Personal and Advertising Injury coverage also protects you from personal injury claims that can be surprisingly common in restaurant operations.
Common personal injury scenarios in restaurants:
- False arrest/detention: If security personnel detain a suspected dine-and-dash customer but have the wrong person, that person could sue for false arrest or imprisonment
- Defamation: Accusing an employee of theft in front of other staff, if they turn out to be innocent, can lead to a defamation or slander suit
- Invasion of privacy: Sharing customer information without permission or posting security footage online can trigger privacy claims
- Wrongful eviction: Evicting a tenant above your restaurant without proper legal procedure creates wrongful eviction exposure
Why It Matters for Restaurant Owners
Your general liability policy's Personal and Advertising Injury coverage provides defense costs and pays settlements or judgments for covered personal injury claims, but there are important exclusions, such as for criminal acts or intentional violations of law. These claims can result in significant damages including emotional distress, reputational harm, lost income, and punitive damages if your conduct was particularly egregious.
Understanding what constitutes personal injury helps you avoid these claims through proper staff training (especially for security staff and managers), following legal procedures for evictions or detentions, avoiding public accusations, respecting privacy, and consulting with attorneys before taking actions that could violate someone's legal rights.
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