3.2 Mississippi Liability Insurance

Liability insurance is essential protection against third-party claims for bodily injury, property damage, and other legal liabilities.

Commercial General Liability (CGL)

Coverage Provided

Coverage A - Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability

Pays for third-party claims alleging:

• Bodily injury to others
• Property damage to others' property
• Medical expenses (Coverage C)
• Legal defense costs (in addition to policy limits)

Coverage B - Personal and Advertising Injury

Pays for claims involving:

• Libel and slander
• False advertising
• Wrongful eviction
• Copyright or trademark infringement in advertising

Occurrence vs. Claims-Made

Occurrence Example:

• Injury occurs: June 2024
• Claim filed: January 2026
• Policy that responds: 2024 policy (when occurrence happened)

Claims-Made Example:

• Injury occurs: June 2024
• Claim filed: January 2026
• Policy that responds: 2026 policy (when claim made)

Exam Tip: Occurrence policies cover incidents that occur during the policy period, regardless of when the claim is made. Claims-made policies cover claims made during the policy period, regardless of when the incident occurred (subject to retroactive date).

Mississippi Workers' Compensation

Who Must Carry Coverage

Mississippi requires workers' compensation for:

What Workers' Comp Covers

Benefits Provided:

1. Medical Benefits

   • All necessary medical treatment
   • Hospital care
   • Medications
   • Rehabilitation
   • No deductibles or co-pays

2. Disability Benefits

   • Temporary total disability (66⅔% of average weekly wage)
   • Permanent partial disability (scheduled benefits)
   • Permanent total disability (lifetime benefits)

3. Death Benefits

   • Burial expenses (up to $10,000)
   • Weekly benefits to dependents
   • Based on worker's average weekly wage

Exclusive Remedy

Workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy - employees cannot sue employer for workplace injuries, except:

• Intentional injury by employer
• Employer failed to carry required workers' comp
• Injury outside scope of employment

Penalties for Non-Compliance

Mississippi employers who fail to carry required workers' comp face:

• Fines of $1,000 to $5,000
• Criminal misdemeanor charges
• Employee can sue employer directly (loses exclusive remedy protection)
• Stop-work order until coverage obtained

Exam Tip: Mississippi requires workers' compensation for employers with 5 or more employees, or any construction employer with 1 or more employees. Workers' comp is the exclusive remedy—employees cannot sue the employer for workplace injuries.

Mississippi Liability Rules: Comparative Fault, Damages, and Statutes

Mississippi liability claims are governed by state tort law that the casualty portion of the exam tests. Mississippi is a pure comparative negligence state: a plaintiff's recovery is reduced by the plaintiff's own percentage of fault, but the plaintiff may recover even if more than 50% at fault (recovery simply shrinks proportionally).

Exam tip: Under pure comparative negligence, a plaintiff 80% at fault still recovers 20% of damages in Mississippi - contrast this with modified comparative states that bar recovery above 50%, and with the few contributory negligence states where any plaintiff fault bars all recovery. The general personal-injury statute of limitations is three years.

How These Rules Shape Coverage Recommendations

Because Mississippi allows recovery even by a substantially at-fault plaintiff, liability limits matter: a defendant insured can be held responsible for their allocated share of a large judgment. Producers therefore recommend CGL and personal liability limits well above the minimum and an umbrella for catastrophic exposure. For auto, the 25/50/25 financial-responsibility floor is rarely adequate given comparative-fault exposure plus the prevalence of uninsured drivers.

Exam tip: Mississippi's combination of pure comparative negligence, a three-year suit window, and many minimum-limit drivers makes umbrella/excess liability and robust UM/UIM the recommended risk-management answers. Punitive-damage caps scaled to the defendant's net worth limit, but do not eliminate, the exemplary-damage exposure, and most liability policies will not pay punitive damages as a matter of public policy.

Mississippi Workers' Compensation and Auto Liability Interaction

Mississippi workers' compensation is administered by the Mississippi Workers' Compensation Commission and is the exclusive remedy for most work injuries, barring employee suits against the employer. Employers with five or more employees are generally required to carry coverage; the employers liability (Part Two) portion fills gaps the statutory benefits do not reach. For auto, Mississippi's 25/50/25 financial-responsibility limits set the liability floor, and the state mandates an offer of UM/UIM at equal limits absent a written rejection.

Exam tip: Tie the casualty pieces together: Mississippi is at-fault/tort (no PIP), uses pure comparative negligence, requires 25/50/25 auto limits with a mandatory UM offer, and channels work injuries to the exclusive-remedy WC system. These four state facts - comparative fault, tort liability, the auto financial-responsibility floor, and the UM written-rejection rule - are the highest-yield Mississippi casualty points on the exam.