The Florida Association of Insurance Agents (FAIA) recently filed an amicus brief with the First District Court of Appeal on behalf of an insurance agent who appealed a license-revoking final order of the Department of Financial Services (DFS). The order was based on a DFS finding that he violated the provisions of Florida statute section 626.901(1) that prohibits representation of unauthorized insurers.

According to the FAIA friend-of-the-court brief, at the time the agent was appointed, there were no rules nor any communicated regulatory policies guiding agents on what constitutes due diligence in such matters. "Of course we support prohibitions against representing unauthorized carriers," FAIA President Jeff Grady said in an FAIA release. "But such an interpretation is unfair to insurance agents who, many times, must rely on the state for such determinations."

FAIA contested the order as unfair and a misuse of the state statute. DFS described the statute as one of "strict liability," requiring no proof that the agent knew or should have known he was representing an unauthorized entity.