08/15/2026
Note: Not legal or insurance advice. Just my experience of 35 years as an expert witness.
Limitation of Liability
Does your state allow this? Do you include one in your contracts? If not, why not?
When it comes time to settle a lawsuit, all sides will consider policy limits and clauses like a limitation of liability. If the engineers you work with have one and you don’t, it will put a greater onus on your carrier to kick in more, or roll the dice and go to court.
Settlements are not an admission of guilt. They are a way to control the amount they may potentially pay out. It doesn’t matter if the lawsuit has merit. Carriers will often settle a case to make it go away, ie a nuisance case. The question is “how much is this really worth to make this go away?” versus “what might we potentially be on the hook for?” if this thing goes to court.
