When you’ve made significant investments in a home or other property, or if you own or operate a business, there are risks that may be difficult or impossible to manage on your own. That’s one of the primary functions of insurance—to allow you to purchase protection when you need it. Unfortunately, all too often, when it comes time to collect the benefits you believe are due under a policy, you are told that your losses were not covered, even though your insurance broker specifically told you they would be. What are your options and what do you have to do?
A claim for insurance broker malpractice may be based on intentional or negligent misrepresentation. If your broker knew that the statements he or she was making were untrue, that’s considered fraud. However, just because the broker didn’t know at the time that the statements were inaccurate, that doesn’t mean you can’t pursue compensation for misrepresentation.
To succeed with a claim for negligent misrepresentation, you’ll need to prove negligence. That requires that you demonstrate that the broker failed to act reasonably, and that the failure to do so caused you to suffer actual loss.
The determination of whether the broker’s actions were reasonable will typically be the responsibility of the jury (the trier of fact). Ultimately, the jury will need to decide whether, if the broker made certain untrue assertions, the broker had the duty to determine before making those statements whether they were accurate or not. If the jury finds that the broker should have known that his or her statements were inaccurate or false, that can be the basis for liability.
