Insurance agents who make mistakes in selling an insurance policy will sometimes end up being sued along with the insurance company issuing the policy. From a strategy point of view it is often times desirable to sue the agent to keep the lawsuit from being litigated in Federal Court. Here…
What if a life insurance agent does something he is not supposed to do when he sells a life insurance policy? What if the insurance company ratifies what the agent did? An insurance company may be liable for unauthorized conduct of an agent or other person, if the insurance company…
What is the difference between a “recording” agent and a “soliciting” agent? Does it make a difference? The law is this area can be confusing, despite the relatively straightforward principles. Historically, there was a distinction between “recording” agents and “soliciting” agents. A recording agent had authority co-extensive with that of…
What if the life insurance agent varied the life insurance contract terms? What is your recourse? There are Insurance Code statutes dealing with this. An agent is not authorized by the statutes to alter or waive a term or condition of an insurance policy or an application for an insurance…
An insurance company cannot always escape liability just by showing that it did not authorize the specific wrongful act. This is discussed in the 1994, Texas Supreme Court opinion styled, Celtic Life Insurance Co. v. Coats. The Celtic court said: In determining a principal’s vicarious liability, the proper question is…
Court’s have described actual authority this way: “Actual” authority, which includes both express and implied authority, usually denotes that authority a principal: (1) intentionally confers upon an agent; (2) intentionally allows the agent to believe that he possesses; or (3) allows the agent to believe that he possesses by want…
It may be obvious that a person was the insurer’s agent and was acting as agent — e.g., a person licensed to sell the company’s policy was engaged in selling the policy. In addition, the statutes make clear that anyone engaging in the listed activities on behalf of an insurer…
Being able to hold the agent liable for any wrongs committed is important from a strategic standpoint in a lawsuit. The first step to determine whether an insurer is vicariously liable is to determine whether the person who engaged in the conduct was acting as the insurer’s agent. The question…
Insurance companies, like other entities, can only act through it’s agents. Insurance companies rely on agents to sell their policies, to under write potential insureds, and to investigate and adjust claims. Insurance companies may be vicariously liable for another’s misconduct if that other person is the insurer’s agent and if…
Lawyers who handle life insurance cases need to be aware of the various ways a life insurance agent can be held responsible for wrongful acts. While an individual agent is subject to being sued under the statutes here is a specific example of that happening. This is from the 1998…