Summary Judgment confirms no duty of agent to advise customer of need for work comp insurance

Jill Smith recently obtained Summary Judgment in a Jackson County Missouri Circuit Court case on behalf of an American Family Insurance agent. The suit alleged professional negligence against the insurance agent for failing to advise the customer of the need to obtain workers' compensation insurance and further alleged negligent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to procure insurance. Judge Grate entered Summary Judgment on the agent's behalf on all counts ruling that the agent had no duty to instruct the plaintiff to obtain workers' compensation insurance that the representations of the agent were not false, that the agent did not breach a fiduciary duty, nor did he fail to procure an insurance policy requested.