What sort of insurance do I need to protect my website? I write original news articles and editorials, and I might start a blog. My site is #1 in it's industry and I'd like to protect my presence online. I've asked a few insurance brokers what sort of business or personal insurance I need to protect myself and my business in case someone doesn't like what I've written on my website. Nobody seems to know. Can anyone tell me if there is there any particular kind of insurance I need to ask for?
I think your better off incorporating or setting up limited liability corporation. Sounds like your afraid of liable suit of some kind. I think best way is to incorporate and only keep so much money in the corporation. Insurance like that would be specialty and would cost more than setting up corporation. When you incorporate they can only sue company not you personaly. That way you only have so much money they can go after.
i think what you need is professional indemnity insurance, that is usually based on your annual turnover. i would also get some public liability insurance, the costs wouldnt be overly huge, (e.g. $200k turnover would be about $700 annually for up to $200k PI and $2mill PL insurance). a small price to pay for peace of mind
Unless you have people coming to your premises, you go to other companies/ events premises then PL seems a bit of a waste of time unless it is mandatory where you are. PI as mentioned is the most likely candidate as this covers you for people doing things on the grounds of your advice however there may be a question on if you are actually a "professional" - certainly in the UK not every everyone can get PI cover simply because they want to give advice. The other options are to form a limited liability company which seperates your assests from the companies so if the company is sued it is the company that pays not you - though of cause you may not want your company to go bust so insurance may still be sensible. Again, in the UK, it is possible to personally sue a director of a company rather than the company itself if it is their personal actions that have been negligent so the Ltd status makes no difference but you can get director insurance (I forget its proper name) to cover for this
Just an FYI....becoming an LLC is NOT blanket coverage that if you are sued your personal assets are shielded. There are exceptions and you have to know them so you don't fall into a problem at some point. Make sure you know the exceptions and follow the rules of an LLC to the enth degree. Jim
An LLC won't keep you from being sued if you do anything illegal as stated above by Jim. On that same note, your personal belongings should be fairly protected under an LLC assuming you personally aren't doing anything illegal.
If you read the rest of my post I mentioned that it isnt blanket cover and there is insurance to cover some of the holes
A legal action can seize property as well as money. And I believe that a domain name is property. As far as setting up an LLC or protecting oneself with any corporate structure, I don't think we want a structure where a lawsuit can lead them to seize property, such as the domain name. If the domain name is owned by the corporation and the corporation keeps limited assets, legal action against the corporation can lead them to take ownership of the domain name (which is property). Likewise, keeping personal ownership of the domain name while keeping most assets in the corporation. A corporate structure isn't enough - some sort of insurance is required.
Awebiste has quite a lot of protecion through various Internet standards, but if you are into e-commerce or offering some sort of service, you mmay want to incorpoarte it which will give the same legal protection as would a normal offline business.
WTF - I don't know what you mean by a website having "a lot of protection through various Internet standards"???? - how in blazes does a standard take precedence over a law? Answer - it doesn't. Or do you have any references to back up what you are claiming? I think you are wrong - an "internet standard" is not legal protection. Likewise, your claim that incorporating provides protection of assets in this case - you are WRONG. A corporation provides protection. for the INDIVIDUAL and the INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONAL ASSETS, as long as those assets do not mix with the corporation and are not responsible for the legal action. A website/domain_name is legal property that is an obvious asset. Any legal action resulting from the website is an action against the owner of the website - regardless if the owner is an individual or a corporation. If the website is personally owned (not owned by a corporation), a legal action as a consequence of the website is a legal action against the website's owner. If the legal action is successful, and if the owner has insufficient assets then the website can be seized by the legal action. Now, if the website is owned by a corporation, a legal action as a consequence of the website is a legal action against the corporation that owns it. If the legal action is successful, and if the corporation has no insurance and insufficient assets, then the website can still be seized by the legal action as a result of the legal action. Got it? The obvious answer is that the assets, including the corporation, need to be protected by insurance. There is a tremendous amount of legal ignorance in this thread that is going to get someone in deep trouble one day. People are saying "incorporate" because it's common knowledge that incorporating protects the assets of the individual. INCORPORATING DOES NOT HELP PROTECT THE INSTRUMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LAWSUIT - ONLY INSURANCE DOES THAT!!! Worse case, after you lose the corporation lawsuit, they can attempt to "break the corporation" by claiming that you mixed the corporation's assets with your own - and then go after your own personal assets. The legal fees alone can destroy you to the point where you'll have to surrender the domain name so that you have some pennies left to your name. So, stop these silly suggestions that incorporating will protect you. It won't. You need insurance. The question is, what kind? Let me end with something my attorney once told me when I asked if someone could sue: "Can someone sue? Yes, of course, someone can always sue. The question, is, can they win?