Insurance Agents May Be the Key to Insurer Liability

The Thursday November 1, 2012 edition of the Los Angeles Daily Journal featured Robert McKennon and Reid Winthrop’s front-page article entitled:  “Insurance Agents Key to Insurer Liability.”  In it, Mr. McKennon and Mr. Winthrop discuss how agents can be the key to rendering insurers liable for policy coverage.  The article discusses the difference between “brokers” and “agents,” including “dual agents,” and discusses when and how to make the case that a “broker” is really an “agent” for purposes of imputing liability to an insurance company.  The article also discusses how to respond to an insurer’s argument that the policy terms control and the insured has a duty to read the policy.  The article is posted below with the permission of the Daily Journal.