Personal Offense Coverage for Homeowners

You probably have insurance to protect your home, car and health from the unexpected, but have you ever thought about putting protection in place in case you ever face a lawsuit for things like libel and slander? That’s where personal offense coverage comes into play. It’s a lesser known but important coverage available to add to your home insurance policy. Not sure what this coverage means? We’re here to help.

What is a personal injury endorsement?*

Your home insurance may help financially protect you from unexpected incidents, whether at home or away. However, personal offense coverage doesn’t fall under the protection provided by your standard homeowners insurance. Insurance for personal offense is an additional coverage you can purchase and add to your homeowners policy.

While personal injury insurance is often confused with bodily injury or personal liability insurance, it's different. Bodily injury or personal liability insurance may help protect you from things like medical bills and legal fees if a guest is injured on your property. Personal offense coverage may help protect you from the following types of personal offense allegations:

• Libel and/or slander
• False arrest, detention or imprisonment
• Malicious prosecution
• Wrongful eviction or wrongful entry
• Associated legal costs

Do you need to add a personal injury endorsement to your home insurance policy?

In today’s world, social media is more prevalent than ever. With the touch of a button, you (or your kids) can tweet, blog or post just about anything for just about anyone to view — which is why personal offense insurance is so important. Consider what would happen if someone sued you for a slanderous tweet you posted about them. Without personal offense coverage, defense costs and potential settlement fees will come right out of your pocket.

Or let’s say you rented out your basement apartment to a tenant and entered the apartment without their knowledge. Harmless as this may seem, your tenant sues you for wrongful entry. Having personal offense protection may help cover resulting legal fees.*

What doesn’t personal offense insurance cover?*

Though personal offense coverage may help you in instances where you’re in trouble for libel or slander, it doesn’t mean you should go ahead and say or write defamatory statements. Just as your other home insurance coverages have limitations, a personal injury endorsement also has coverage exclusions and limitations. For example, if you knew what you were doing was wrong or what you did was illegal, you likely wouldn’t be covered.

What does personal offense insurance cost?

Adding a personal injury endorsement to your homeowners insurance policy typically adds only a few dollars a year to your premium. Yet, personal offense coverage may help provide protection if you or a family member face a lawsuit.

Contact your American Family Insurance agent to learn more about adding personal offense coverage to your homeowners insurance policy. Want an easy way to access your insurance information? Log in or sign up for My Account, where you can view your insurance info, file a claim, pay your bills and much more. Even better? You can do it all from the MyAmFam app. Download it today.

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*This information represents only a brief description of coverages, is not part of your policy, and is not a promise or guarantee of coverage. If there is any conflict between this information and your policy, the provisions of the policy will prevail. Insurance policy terms and conditions may apply. Exclusions may apply to policies, endorsements, or riders. Coverage may vary by state and may be subject to change. Some products are not available in every state. Please read your policy and contact your agent for assistance.