No Duty Owed by Agent to Client—Client Never Requested Type of Insurance At Issue

The Second Department determined an insurance agent was not obligated to indemnify the plaintiffs in the underlying action because the client never requested the specific (automobile) coverage at issue. The court explained the nature of a duty owed by an agent to the agent’s client:

“An insurance agent or broker has a common-law duty to obtain requested coverage for a client within a reasonable amount of time or to inform the client of the inability to do so” … . This “duty is defined by the nature of the client’s request” … . “Absent a specific request for coverage not already in a client’s policy or the existence of a special relationship with the client, an insurance agent or broker has no continuing duty to advise, guide, or direct a client to obtain additional coverage” … . Here, Ginsberg, a Nationwide insurance agent who sold the plaintiff … the subject policies of insurance, established, prima facie, that the plaintiffs did not specifically request automobile coverage, either in connection with their initial 2003 insurance applications, or in connection with subsequent renewal applications. Maxwell Plumb Mech Corp v Nationwide Prop & Cas Ins Co, 2014 NY Slip Op 02412, 2nd Dept 4-9-14