The professional liability (PL) market in Florida, like most of the United States, remains soft for many industries. Generally, agents and brokers seeking this coverage on behalf of their customers are finding low rates, plenty of capacity, and an increasing number of insurance carriers willing to write it. Also, most agents and brokers are able to offer their customers proposals with higher limits at more competitive pricing and with broader coverage features than previously available.

Architects, engineers, lawyers, consultants, and other professionals are finding their PL policies, also called Errors & Omissions (E&O) coverage, at very affordable rates. In some cases, the nature of what would be considered covered — protection against loss from a claim of alleged negligent acts, errors or omissions in the performance of professional services — has expanded. For example, some Miscellaneous PL policy forms have added privacy cover and other features that in 2008-2009 would have been obtainable only through a stand-alone, specialty policy for most industries.

However, this capacity and largesse of terms does not apply to all risks or all industries. Two industries where capacity is tighter and terms are more restrictive are financial services and real estate; both were hit hard by the subprime mortgage crisis and market crash in 2008-2009.