A recent case supports the principle that a negligence claim against your insurance broker is NOT ripe until your insurance coverage dispute is resolved. In this case, a plaintiff sued his carrier in a coverage dispute and his insurance broker in negligence. The trial court denied the negligence claim and the broker moved for a petition for a writ of certiorari arguing that the claim against it isn’t ripe because there hasn’t been a determination of coverage. If there is coverage, then the claim against the broker become moot. If there isn’t coverage, then the negligence claim against the broker becomes at-issue. The appellate court agreed that the proper remedy for the premature claim against the broker was dismissal without prejudice.  See Burlington Insurance Group, LLC v. Gordon, 51 Fla.L.Weekly D156d (Fla. 2d DCA 2026).

There are times when you think your insurance broker messed up which resulted in you not being covered for something you thought you were otherwise covered for with insurance. You may be right. But if there is coverage, and you determine there is coverage, then your broker did not do anything wrong. Consult with counsel if you believe your insurance broker may have been negligent to determine the best path forward. Just because the carrier denied coverage does not necessarily mean the broker did anything wrong.

Please contact David Adelstein at dadelstein@gmail.com or (954) 361-4720 if you have questions or would like more information regarding this article. You can follow David Adelstein on Twitter @DavidAdelstein1.