Is photographers liability insurance important?
Yes. As a freelance photographer you carry the responsibility for every aspect of your business. And those responsibilities of a photographer can quickly become anxieties if you’re facing a claim from a dissatisfied client and you haven’t got photographers liability insurance to fall back on.
Professional indemnity insurance for photographers
Whether you are a photo journalist, do weddings or commercial photography, the end result is considered art and as such the expectations of your clients are sky high.
If you drop one of the many balls you have to juggle on a daily basis, you’ll be faced with an emotive client demanding something of you to remedy your mistake.
And there could be a number of reasons why a client might feel entitled to a financial compensation:
- you missed the deadline and perhaps your client promotional event couldn’t go ahead. They’re now claiming a financial loss.
- you lost the entire photo file from someone’s wedding or the end result is deemed unacceptable by your client and they’re refusing to pay.
- the photographs you took cause an offence and you’re being sued for damages
- the artistic interpretation was misjudged and you damaged someone’s brand or reputation
The list could go on and any of these scenarios lead to sleepless nights and high legal or compensation costs.
Professional indemnity insurance for photographers protect against those and many more scenarios.
Public liability insurance for photographers
However, for a solid legal protection you should also consider public liability insurance for photographers. The nature of most photographers’ work involves working with the public.
Accidents happens, someone takes a step too far and falls over or the equipment causes an injury. If that happens, you might be looking at a demand for compensation.
How does public liability and professional indemnity insurance for photographers work?
Professional indemnity cover is designed to protect photographers from claims of professional mistakes, negligence or breach of confidentiality.
Public liability cover's purpose is to protect photographers against claims of causing an injury or property damage.
The basic elements of both covers are reimbursement of any defence legal costs and a compensation payout if you're found liable.
Suited approach goes beyond those key elements. Suited brings to the table a legal team provided by an international law firm experienced in defending professional indemnity claims.
Their work is paid for by your insurers but the legal team will represent you during a claim situation. Right from the very beginning so that the matter is handled correctly, swiftly and hopefully brought an early closure.
The legal team will also liaise with you insurers so that you don't have to. If there's a compensation agreed, it will be taken care of. There will be nothing for you to pay.
Cancelling public liability and professional indemnity insurance for photographers
You can cancel your public liability insurance when you no longer need it. If a claim arises from the period during which you held insurance, you should be covered.
Remember that when it comes for professional indemnity insurance, it's not the same.
You're only covered if a) you have an active policy in place when a claim is made against and b) either the start date or retroactive date of your policy fall before the situation that has led to the claim.
Therefore if you're taking a break or might be thinking of winding up your business, having your professional indemnity insurance for photographers in place for some extra time might be wise.
With Suited you can choose to hibernate your PI cover which means paying less going forward while staying covered for your past work.
Select the right level for your photographers liability insurance.
Public liability and professional indemnity insurance for photographers is rarely a contract condition therefore the decision what limits to buy for each of these covers needs to be based on the type of work you undertake, who for, who with, and where.
For example if you're working with celebrities or well known persons, your risk of being sued is higher and so is the possible payout. On the other hand if you're a nature photographer and never meet anyone during the course of your work, you probably don't require the highest limit the market can offer.
The location of your work is also important. For example Ireland is a very litigious country. If your work takes you around the world, be aware of what impact that could have if you make a mistake or cause damage.
Is your work time sensitive? In other words would your client suffer financially if you don't deliver on time?
These are all the questions you should ask yourself before selecting a limit. The temptation is to go for a lower limit because it's cheaper but the cost of litigation can easily run into hundred of thousands and if there is a compensation to pay on top of that, will the policy limit be enough?
