What Is Bodily Injury?

Bodily injury generally means physical harm to a person’s body caused by an accident or other event. In insurance, the term commonly appears in bodily injury liability coverage, which can pay covered claims when an insured person is legally responsible for injuring someone else. Compensable losses may include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other damages, depending on the policy and applicable law. Bodily injury is not necessarily identical to “personal injury.” In everyday legal use, personal injury is a broader category of civil claims involving harm caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing. In some insurance policies, “personal injury” can have a specialised definition covering non-physical harms such as defamation or false arrest. Because policy definitions control insurance disputes, the precise meaning should be checked in the relevant contract. After a serious accident, available bodily injury liability limits can significantly affect the compensation that may be recoverable.