E&O Insurance vs. Liability Insurance

[Nathalia Habibuw]

Hi All,

I'm a new reporter, and one of the firms I'll be working for was telling me that they prefer their reporters to carry both E&O insurance and liability insurance. At first I was under the impression that they were two different kinds of insurance, but after doing a little research they seem to be the same thing. The liability insurance offered by NCRA covers E&O so what's the difference? I must be missing something. Can someone clear this up for me because I seem to be getting no where with this on my own.

Thanks!

[Kyung]

I just have E&O. What kind of liability is the agency looking for? Accident liability?

Ask the agency.

[Karen Klein]

Hi there - they are not the same thing. E&O is more malpractice insurance for errors in your transcript, not obeying the codes, giving preferential treatment, etc. General liability insurance is what all independent contractors should carry also - probably more important than E&O. GL insurance covers any personal injury you may cause another's body or property while in the course and scope of your job duties. One example is someone tripped on a reporter's power cord and threatened to sue the law firm and the reporter. True story. Also covers, I believe, slander while on the job and many other things. In California, the Deposition Reporters Association, is putting together a GL policy that includes equipment insurance also. Also working on E&O - right now NCRA has the best premium for that. Hopefully that will change in the future.

[Judy]

Yep, the power cord trip happened to one of my "staff" reporters many years ago. Don't know if it's the same story or not, but a surgeon tripped on the reporter's power cord and threatened to sue anybody and everybody. She informed us he threatnened to sue us. I told her, no, he threatened to sue YOU and we'd probably be brought in just because.

[Judy]

It was at an atty's office, not the doc's office. But now I always try to set up at the farthest end of the room and if anybody gets close to my cords, I say, "Watch out for my cords."

[Cindy L.A.]

I have one worse, athough this doesn't apply to the insurance question! I had nowhere to put my laptop in the doctor's office naturally, so I squeezed it on a corner of his crowded desk. All set to go, reached for my glasses, which were on the floor of course, and my shoe or leg somehow caught on the cord of my laptop and my laptop went crashing to the floor and completely smashed the corner of the laptop. The doctor tried to put it back together, all the while the attorneys are saying can we do this yet? I could'n't even hear them I was so upset. I was ready to cry but was hiding it. Ultimately, the doctor had a mini recorder I borrowed and Toshiba fixed my laptop under warranty, but I was a mess during the depo.