It’s pretty easy to point the finger elsewhere especially if there is financial gain involved. Chances are that the company would have self-insured the flood coverage judging from the premiums they are already paying. If there is a mortgagee or loss payee and it happens to be a Federally licensed Bank then some responsibility lies there as well. No doubt the agency should have offered the coverage as long as they knew where the property was located, but it should be a shared responsibility between the agent and insured.
Would you buy a million doller house without looking into whether or not it’s in a flood zone? It’s people like you that are fueling the responsibility flight in this country.
And do you know how expensive excess flood coverage would have been for the beyond the NFIP? They people wouldn’t have bought it, I’ve never had a customer buy it..
Im assuming the insured was also aware they were in a Flood Plain….doesnt the insured have some responsibility to address these issues, and not just the agent??
So, what complicity does the property carrier have? None. Who is ultimately responsible for flood insurance? The owner of the building, not the agent or property carrier. Also, where was the mortgagee? I don’t know of a mortgage company that doesn’t know when a piece of property is in a flood plain. Here we have corporate executives who weren’t smart enough to know they were in a 100 year flood plain and protect their assets. Another case of “running from responsibility.” Hope the courts throw out the case and send a message that business owners and executives need to know their property locations, along with the their business.
We recently had an insured who had to get flood insurance. He was unaware that he was in a 100 year flood plain until he when for a loan to expand his current building. The mortgage company had to get the flood certificate for us.
A businessowner of this size would have to know their in a flood plain. Obviously, they are looking for the deep pocket theory and ultimately an agent’s E & O will be sucked into the vacuum.
Hopefully, most of the loss will be assumed by the businessowner since their CFO was not prudent enough to recognize the exposure.
You are all correct, BUT I served as an Expert Witness for an agent under very similar circumstances a year or two ago, and his E & O did pay quite a few dollars to the insured. There was no mortgagee.
Bottom line is the AGENT is the professional here. IF they actually did not suggest the flood coverage, it is the fault of the agent.
If we as agents want to remain viable and not get flushed down the toilet of irrelevance in today’s market, we have to take our profession seriously and accept the boons and the banes that brings.
If a doctor fails to stitch an incision, it is the fault of the doctor, not the patient, although the patient probably knows that an incision should be stitched closed.
So we end up with one policy in the file and 146 sign-off sheets for all of the other various types of insurance possible for this account that we advised they buy and they either declined to purchase it from us or purchased it from another source (and we still should have a sign-off for the coverage they purchased elsewhere to protect our butts once again) Isn’t this industry grand ?
We have updated our privacy policy to be more clear and meet the new requirements of the GDPR. By continuing to use our site, you accept our revised Privacy Policy.
It’s pretty easy to point the finger elsewhere especially if there is financial gain involved. Chances are that the company would have self-insured the flood coverage judging from the premiums they are already paying. If there is a mortgagee or loss payee and it happens to be a Federally licensed Bank then some responsibility lies there as well. No doubt the agency should have offered the coverage as long as they knew where the property was located, but it should be a shared responsibility between the agent and insured.
Armando:
Would you buy a million doller house without looking into whether or not it’s in a flood zone? It’s people like you that are fueling the responsibility flight in this country.
And do you know how expensive excess flood coverage would have been for the beyond the NFIP? They people wouldn’t have bought it, I’ve never had a customer buy it..
Im assuming the insured was also aware they were in a Flood Plain….doesnt the insured have some responsibility to address these issues, and not just the agent??
So, what complicity does the property carrier have? None. Who is ultimately responsible for flood insurance? The owner of the building, not the agent or property carrier. Also, where was the mortgagee? I don’t know of a mortgage company that doesn’t know when a piece of property is in a flood plain. Here we have corporate executives who weren’t smart enough to know they were in a 100 year flood plain and protect their assets. Another case of “running from responsibility.” Hope the courts throw out the case and send a message that business owners and executives need to know their property locations, along with the their business.
We recently had an insured who had to get flood insurance. He was unaware that he was in a 100 year flood plain until he when for a loan to expand his current building. The mortgage company had to get the flood certificate for us.
A businessowner of this size would have to know their in a flood plain. Obviously, they are looking for the deep pocket theory and ultimately an agent’s E & O will be sucked into the vacuum.
Hopefully, most of the loss will be assumed by the businessowner since their CFO was not prudent enough to recognize the exposure.
You are all correct, BUT I served as an Expert Witness for an agent under very similar circumstances a year or two ago, and his E & O did pay quite a few dollars to the insured. There was no mortgagee.
Bottom line is the AGENT is the professional here. IF they actually did not suggest the flood coverage, it is the fault of the agent.
If we as agents want to remain viable and not get flushed down the toilet of irrelevance in today’s market, we have to take our profession seriously and accept the boons and the banes that brings.
If a doctor fails to stitch an incision, it is the fault of the doctor, not the patient, although the patient probably knows that an incision should be stitched closed.
Nick
Wake up Agents! You hate to write flood insurance but you MUST make the insured decline coverages in writing, to protect your E&O. Always offer Flood!
So we end up with one policy in the file and 146 sign-off sheets for all of the other various types of insurance possible for this account that we advised they buy and they either declined to purchase it from us or purchased it from another source (and we still should have a sign-off for the coverage they purchased elsewhere to protect our butts once again) Isn’t this industry grand ?