Which incident is not covered by general liability/accident insurance for a rehabilitation practice offering hippotherapy?

• A. The medical expenses for a volunteer whose foot is broken when a horse steps on her while being groomed.
• B. Lawyer expenses related to a malpractice suit against you
• C. Repairs to the barn caused by storm damage
• D. Lawyer expenses related to a suit brought by your neighbors for damage to their property when horses from your center got loose.

Answer: (B)

General liability coverage protects you from claims of bodily injury or property damage that happen as a result of your business activities, plus the associated defense costs for those kinds of incidents. In hippotherapy, this typically means injuries or damage that occur to or on your premises or to third parties due to your operations.

A volunteer getting hurt on-site when a horse steps on her during grooming falls under third-party bodily injury that GL would usually help pay for and defend. If horses from your center cause damage to a neighbor’s property, that is third-party property damage and is also the sort of claim GL handles.

Damage to your own property, like repairs to your barn after a storm, is generally addressed by property insurance rather than general liability.

The key distinction is professional liability: a malpractice claim alleging negligence in the professional services you provide falls outside general liability. Those claims require professional liability (errors and omissions or malpractice) coverage. That’s why the malpractice-related legal expenses aren’t covered by general liability, making that scenario the one not covered.