Can an insurance company be held liable for the insurance agent’s error?
Short Answer
Yes. Missouri does distinguish that in assured environments an insurance agent may be obligated to owe certain liabilities to its clients and also may be accountable for an inattentive breach of such liabilities. However in this situation, Davis inferred the lease as not to require coverage on the building. He was performing activities particular to his role as an insurance broker, not as a soliciting agent. Liability to the insurance company can be held in various forms, when comparing the actions of an insurance broker and the actions of an insurance agent.
Question Presented
What is the difference between an insurance agent and an insurance …show more content…
The agency is an Ohio corporation involved in the commerce of insurance brokering for a number of different insurance companies, including defendant-appellant Fireman’s Fund Insurance Companies, Inc. Defendant-appellee Davis is an sovereign insurance agent suitably accredited in the state of Ohio and is also the president of Affiliated Risk Managers Agency. Damon’s Missouri, Inc. is a restaurant chain. Damon’s Missouri has previous experience, utilizing the services of Davis as its insurance broker. The president of Damon’s Missouri, Gene Simonetti, had consulted with Davis in the past, when opening a new restaurant. Both would consult about the location of the new restaurant and see the supplementary coverage required for the new …show more content…
A person who procures insurance for others can be an insurance agent, an insurance broker, or both. The essence of the difference is that whereas an insurance agent acts on behalf of a particular insurance company, an insurance broker acts on behalf of the prospective insured. Eddy v. Republic Natl. Life Ins. Co., 290 N.W.2d 174. The difference between an insurance agent and an insurance broker is very vital to people who purchase insurance plans. Insurance agents can perform exclusively on behalf of the acknowledged insurer, but an insurance broker cannot be held out as the legal representative of one specific insurance firm. An agent that is performing within the scope of his actual authority can muddle the code. Express authority is that authority which is directly granted to or conferred upon the agent or employee in express terms by the principal, and it extends only to such powers as the principal gives the agent in direct terms; and the express provisions are controlling where the agency is expressly conferred. Master Consolidated Corp. v. Bancohio Natl. Bank., 61 Ohio St.3d