Personal Injury
In insurance terms, personal injury typically refers to non-physical harm such as damage to reputation, including libel, slander, false imprisonment, or invasion of privacy. This is distinct from bodily injury, which involves physical harm to a person's body.
Example
“The homeowner's personal injury coverage paid for legal defense when a neighbor sued for defamation after a dispute over property lines was posted on social media.”
Memory Tip
Personal injury = Personal reputation injury (hurt feelings, damaged reputation), not physical body injury.
Why It Matters
In our social media age, personal injury claims for defamation and invasion of privacy are increasingly common and expensive to defend. Having this coverage protects you from potentially costly lawsuits over things you say or post that might damage someone's reputation.
Common Misconception
Most people think personal injury means physical harm like broken bones or medical bills, but in insurance terminology, it specifically refers to non-physical harms like damaged reputation. Physical harm is called 'bodily injury' in insurance policies.
In Practice
If you post on Facebook that your neighbor is a 'criminal' and they sue you for defamation seeking $50,000 in damages, your homeowners policy's personal injury coverage would typically pay for your legal defense (often costing $20,000-40,000) and any settlement or judgment up to your policy limits. Without this coverage, you'd pay these costs out of pocket even if the lawsuit is frivolous.
Etymology
From Latin 'personalis' meaning relating to a person and 'injuria' meaning wrongdoing or harm, evolving in legal contexts to distinguish reputational harm from physical bodily injury.
Common Misspellings
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