Product Liability Insurance

[Jason27]

I am in Illinois. I build custom eletric bicycles as a side job and am filed as an LLC corporation. Business really picked up this year and last year so in 2010 I decided to get product liability insurance. It's expensive, costing $5500 a year for the premium.

Next year 2012 I will be dissolving the business to focus on my other job. I estimate there are 80 electric bikes out there I have built in the past. I have never had to use the product liability insurance before. I also had each customer sign liability waivers stating that they assume all risk and responsibility for their bikes.

So my question is do I still need to keep the insurance to protect myself, even when I am fully out of business? Could someone sue me 2-3 years down the road for something bogus? I am just a middle class person with few assets and little money in savings. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[You Are Guilty]

You really need to sit down and chat with your broker about this, but to answer your questions, Yes and Yes! You can absolutely be sued after you shut down the business (whether that suit would be successful is anyone's guess though).

However, depending on what kind of coverage you already have, there may already be some protection from future suits. See this discussion of claims-made vs. occurrence policies (and tail coverage) and speak to your broker about your concerns:

http://www.products-liability-insurance.com/occurrence-claims.php