The insurer was not bound by the actions of the insurance broker who placed insurance with the insurer.

In Osceola County Circuit Court, Judge Young granted summary judgment in favor of the insurance carrier, Security First, of an insurance policy in effect at the time of a 2014 residential house fire. The court found that Security First, as the insurer, was not bound by the actions of Cochran, the insurance broker who placed insurance with different companies. Cochran failed to disclose a prior fire loss that would have caused Security First to reject the plaintiff’s application for insurance. 

The Circuit Court cited long-standing Florida law which states that “an insurance broker acts as an agent of the insured, not the insurer, where the broker is employed by the insured to procure insurance.” Essex Ins. Co. v. Zota, 985 So. 2d 1036, 1046 (Fla. 2008) (internal citations omitted). The court cited the difference between an “insurance broker,” which is a representative of the insured, and an “insurance agent,” which represents an insurer under an exclusive employment agreement by the insurance company. “The distinction between an agent and a broker is important because acts of an agent are imputable to the insurer, and acts of a broker are imputable to the insured.”

Here, the Circuit Court found that because the underlying acts of the claim were those of the broker and not those of anyone whose conduct is imputable to Security First as the company who issued the policy, Security First was entitled to summary judgment as a matter of law. 
 

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