If your dog bites the mail carrier, or the neighbor's car is crushed by bricks falling from your crumbling chimney, this part of the policy has got you covered -- up to a point.

Comprehensive personal liability covers damage to property of others and medical payments to others for injuries or damage caused by you or by an accident around your home.

Personal-liability coverage kicks in when you are considered legally liable for an injury. It would even pay for legal bills if necessary. To get coverage for medical payments for others, you aren't required to be legally responsible for the injury. You would be covered, for instance, if a visitor tripped over a gap in your front walk and broke an ankle, or if you accidentally beaned someone on the golf course.

A typical policy limits personal-liability coverage to $100,000 and medical payments to others to $1,000 per person. You can see that the coverage, though comforting, isn't exactly overwhelming.

Liability coverage typically extends to the policyholder and to family members who live in the house.

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