Insurance Adjusters: Not Immune from Liablity for Negligent Misrepresentation

  California courts have consistently held that agents and employees of insurance companies, including insurance adjusters, do not owe a legal duty to the insured. Instead, liability for their actions lies with the insurer, so long as the agency was disclosed to the insured and the conduct complained of took place within the course and scope of such agency. Claims of negligence, therefore, fail against adjusters acting within the course and scope of their employment. But, what about the tort of negligent misrepresentation? Continue reading

Employee Broker Not Vicariously Liable for Torts of Co-Employee Salesperson

   A licensed real estate broker, who is the designated officer for a corporate broker pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 10159.2, is not vicariously liable under traditional agency principles to a third-party for failure to supervise a co-employee salesperson.

   The employer corporation may be vicariously liable, but not the individual officer. In order to prevail on a claim which subjects the designated officer to personal liability, the liability must be direct or the result of a principal-agent relationship apart from the statutory supervisory duty contained in section 10159.2. Sandler v. Sanchez.