Is an insurance broker liable to an insured for misrepresenting coverage?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Plowy v. R.W. O'Neil Insurance Agency Inc., E045153 (Cal. App. 6/17/2009), E045153 (Cal. App. 2009):

Plaintiffs cite Greenfield v. Insurance, Inc. (1971) 19 Cal.App.3d 803, for the proposition that insurance brokers are liable to an insured when the broker fails to procure the coverage requested, or by misrepresenting the coverage actually procured. (Id. at pp. 810-811.) There, the insured specifically requested the broker to procure insurance to cover mechanical breakdown of a vital piece of machinery in the insured's business. The broker represented that the insured's machine was fully covered. Neither the broker nor the insured read the policy that was issued; it actually excluded mechanical breakdown from coverage. Here, by contrast, plaintiffs requested the agency to procure guaranteed replacement cost coverage for their home, and the agency actually did procure precisely that coverage in the 2002 policy.

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