What Is Personal and Advertising Injury Insurance?

Personal and advertising injury coverage is part of a general liability insurance policy that applies to specific legal claims, such as libel, slander, wrongful eviction and certain advertising-related violations. It’s commonly listed as Coverage B in your policy terms and helps address lawsuits tied to reputation, communication and advertising activity, including claims brought by customers, competitors or tenants.

However, Coverage B can vary by insurer and policy wording. To help you understand how it works in practice, this guide breaks down the following topics in order:

• How it works
• What it covers
• What it doesn’t cover
• Why it is important
• What to consider moving forward

Personal and advertising injury coverage (Coverage B) applies when a claim against your business involves certain non-physical harms related to advertising, communication or occupancy-based allegations. If the claim triggers Coverage B, your policy can help pay for legal defense and covered settlements or judgments.

Its general liability insurance limits are structured as follows:

• Personal & Advertising Injury Per Occurrence Limit: Maximum paid for any single claim and is set separately from other coverage components.
• General Aggregate Limit: Maximum paid for all general liability claims combined during the policy period, shared with Coverage A (bodily injury and property damage) and Coverage B (personal and advertising injury).

In most general liability policies, personal and advertising injury claims are handled without a deductible, meaning eligible costs can be covered up to your policy limits once the claim is approved. Coverage terms and defense provisions can vary by insurer, so it’s important to review how Coverage B is listed on your policy declarations page.

Personal and advertising injury coverage applies to a defined set of “offenses” listed in your general liability policy, commonly including the following items:

Your personal and advertising injury coverage will often have the following exclusions:

Personal and advertising injury coverage matters because businesses can face lawsuits over what they publish, advertise or communicate which can be expensive due to their subjective nature. These claims are especially hard to financially handle since legal defense costs often apply early, even when the alleged harm is subjective or difficult to prove. 

So, if you’re a smaller business, these risks can be crippling. Even a relatively simple defamation-style dispute can generate legal costs from roughly $15,000 to $90,000+, and may exceed $100,000 before dismissal in some cases.

To understand Coverage B in practice, answer these questions in order:

1. Is the allegation one of the policy’s defined Coverage B offenses?
2. Do any key exclusions apply?
3. If it qualifies, what limit bucket does the claim draw from (Coverage B per-claim limit vs the general aggregate)?

If the claim fits a defined Coverage B offense and isn’t excluded, coverage then comes down to how the per-claim Coverage B limit and general aggregate limit apply. Using this framework (Covered Item?→What Is Excluded?→How Do Limits Apply?)  can help you evaluate many other business insurance coverages and sub-components more clearly.

We recommend that your next steps involve finding answers to these questions before even considering buying a policy:

• What does general liability insurance cover?
• Do I need general liability insurance?
• What are general liability insurance requirements?

We've also linked resources below if you want to learn more about different areas related to general liability insurance as a whole and other coverage considerations.