Liability Coverage Protects Salons FromClaims

Compensatory damages are used to recover out-of-pocket expenses for medical care and medications, lost wages, property damage, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and even the loss of the capacity to enjoy life. A business may seek to recover lost profits and out-of-pocket expenses. In the absence of statutes, determining the monetary amount of damages usually is left to the courts and their juries.

Where the defendant’s conduct is found to be intentional, willful, wanton or malicious, the courts may permit an award of punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.

Punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant and to discourage the type of conduct in which the defendant engaged. For example, a jury may award a woman who suffered burns from a tanning bed relatively modest compensatory damages, but award her millions of dollars in punitive damages against a salon owner, because the jury found the salon responsible for the woman’s burns.

Liability coverage is one of the most essential insurance coverages available for salon owners to protect themselves and their businesses. Securing adequate liability insurance is of prime importance for salon owners, whose professional services may pose a risk of injury to their customers.

In addition to liability arising specifically from the use of tanning equipment, salon owners also may be held accountable for a variety of other kinds of business liabilities such as trips and falls. Such liabilities can arise from any number of business relationships, including those with customers, suppliers, partners and landlords.

Liabilities can stem from the actions of employees, noncompliance with governmental regulations, the sale of equipment, maintenance of the premises and even from competing with other businesses. Some sources of liability are unique to the tanning industry, while others are not; nevertheless, it is important for the salon owner to be aware of these potential loss exposures when setting up and operating the business.

There are two types of liability about which all salon owners need to know: business liability and professional liability.

Business liability protects a salon owner against bodily-injury lawsuits, for example a lawsuit claiming that a customer or visitor was injured while on the premises (such as those injuries caused by trips and falls).

Business liability also provides protection against property-damage claims, personal-injury lawsuits involving libel or slander, claims arising from the physical eviction of a person while on the premises and/or claims of false arrest, and claims arising from false advertising.

The second type of liability coverage is professional liability, which protects a salon owner against any accidents or negligent acts that may arise from providing professional services. For example, professional liability protects salon owners from claims made by customers who have suffered burns from overexposure.

Jury awards of more than $1 million have not been uncommon; therefore, a liability limit of $1 million no longer can be considered excessive. As a result, many salon owners, even small salons, carry higher limits of general and professional liability. An agent specialized in tanning salon insurance can increase a salon owner’s business liability limit from $1 million to $2 million per year at a very reasonable cost. Group purchasing power has put higher limits of liability within the reach of many salon owners previously unable to afford the increased coverage.