The venue will not give you the keys without it.
General liability for a single event or a season of them: the coverage venues, parks and municipalities require before they will let you through the door, written for one day as readily as for a year.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What event liability actually covers.
Third-party bodily injury
Somebody at your event is hurt and looks to the organizer.
Without it — The claim lands on you personally where there is no entity, and on the entity where there is.
Third-party property damage
Damage to the venue, the grounds, the equipment or the neighbors.
Without it — The venue bills you from the deposit and then beyond it.
Host liquor liability
Alcohol served without a license: a cash bar, a hosted drink, a supplied keg.
Without it — The base form excludes alcohol claims, and this is the one the venue is most worried about.
Additional insured status
The venue, the landowner, the city or the university added by endorsement as the contract requires.
Without it — The contract is unmet however good the coverage is, and the booking does not stand.
Where event liability shows up.
- Podcasts
A live taping, a meetup or a tour date is an event with a crowd, and the venue requires coverage for it by name.
- Weddings
Almost every venue requires it named before they will confirm, and most couples buy only this.
- Event Vendors & Concessionaires
The organizer, the venue and often the landowner all named, before you are allocated a pitch.
- Conventions & Trade Shows
Convention centers and hotels specify limits and additional insured status in the contract.
- Teams, Tournaments & Sports Events
The venue, the park district or the city named before you are allowed to use the ground.
- Motorsports
One-off meetings and hire of a circuit you do not own.
- Nonprofits
A volunteer hurt at your event is usually not covered by workers comp.
- Associations & Membership Organizations
Venue contracts require it by name, with indemnities that run against the association.
- Museums and Cultural Institutions
A wedding guest injured on your terrace becomes your claim when the renter has no policy of its own.
- Zurich
A venue or a permit names a limit, and an event without it does not happen.
What your state requires.
- Alabama event liability insuranceAlabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board
- Alaska event liability insuranceAlaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office
- Arkansas event liability insuranceArkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division
- Delaware event liability insuranceDelaware Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control Commissioner
- Hawaii event liability insuranceHawaii county liquor commissions
- Idaho event liability insuranceIdaho State Police Alcohol Beverage Control
- Louisiana event liability insuranceLouisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control
- Maine event liability insuranceMaine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations
- Mississippi event liability insuranceMississippi Department of Revenue Alcoholic Beverage Control
- Nebraska event liability insuranceNebraska Liquor Control Commission
- North Dakota event liability insuranceNorth Dakota Attorney General Licensing Division
- Rhode Island event liability insuranceRhode Island Department of Business Regulation
- South Dakota event liability insuranceSouth Dakota Department of Revenue
- Vermont event liability insuranceVermont Division of Liquor Control
- West Virginia event liability insuranceWest Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Administration
- Wyoming event liability insuranceWyoming Liquor Division
What clients with event liability ask us.
Can I buy it for one day?
Yes, and most events do. Single-event coverage is written for the dates of the event, usually including set-up and tear-down, and it is issued quickly enough to satisfy a venue asking on short notice. If you run more than three or four events a year, an annual policy is generally cheaper and means the certificate exists before it is asked for.
The venue sent an insurance requirement. What are they actually asking for?
Almost always three things, and only the first is a number: a limit, usually one or two million per occurrence; their entity named as additional insured by endorsement rather than typed on the certificate; and often a waiver of subrogation. Send us the contract rather than the number: the wording is what gets certificates rejected, and it is the part people summarize.
Does it cover the event being cancelled?
No, and they are constantly confused. Event liability pays when somebody else is injured or their property is damaged. Cancellation coverage pays YOU back for money you have already committed when the event cannot happen. Venues require the first; the second is the one that saves your own budget, and most organizers buy only the one they were asked for.
We are serving alcohol. Is that included?
Host liquor is commonly included where you are not in the business of selling it: a wedding with a hosted bar, a company party. The moment there is a cash bar, a license, or alcohol as a revenue line, it is liquor liability proper and it is a separate coverage that the base form excludes by name.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.