Insurance brokers can be found to have a fiduciary obligation to the insured, a duty greater than that of the average agent who needs only to get the insurance ordered. Such was the issue in Thomas v. Dion.

In this case, Neil Lansman contacted insurance agency Fetterman, Millinghausen & McNutt Inc. (FMM) to procure General Liability insurance on behalf of his general contractor company, Prestigious Homes Inc. (Prestigious), which was executed on Dec. 23, 2003. In this application, Prestigious answered questions affirming that it obtained certificates of insurance from any subcontractors used; required minimum limits of $1 million from subcontractors; did not use uninsured subcontractors; obtained written contracts that included a hold harmless clause in Prestigious's favor from all its subcontractors; and would be listed as an additional insured under any subcontractors' policies.

On Feb. 12, 2004, National Indemnity Insurance Co. issued Prestigious a General Liability insurance policy starting from Jan. 28, 2004. The policy contained an endorsement titled “Independent Contractors and Subcontractors Coverage Requirement — Exclusion” (Subcontractor Endorsement), which states in capital letters at the top of the page that “THIS ENDORSEMENT CHANGES THE POLICY. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.”