In South Dakota, farmers and ranchers purchase various crop insurance products to protect themselves. When purchasing insurance, farmers and ranchers rely on their crop insurance agent to describe what insurance product fits their operation and how that insurance will work to protect them. If the crop insurance agent fails to adequately do his or her job, devastating loss can occur for the farmer or rancher. When this happens, a farmer or rancher should seek legal counsel to protect whatever claim they may have against the crop insurance agent.
It is important to understand that a crop insurance agent must fulfill certain legal duties in the selling of crop insurance products to farmers and ranchers. A few duties that a crop insurance agent must fulfill are:
- A crop insurance agent must be truthful about the insurance product—which means that the agent cannot misrepresent the insurance product by “overselling” or exaggerating the coverage the insurance will provide.
- When a crop insurance agent recommends a certain insurance product to you, and you request that insurance coverage, the crop insurance agent must obtain the insurance coverage you requested.
Also, a crop insurance agent will likely have an insurance policy to protect him or her when they fail to adequately do their job—this insurance is called Errors and Omissions insurance. Crop insurance agents purchase this insurance because it protects them from having to foot a big bill when they commit an error.
If a crop insurance agent misrepresented your crop insurance or failed to provide you with the insurance you requested, you may have a claim against your agent. Schoenbeck Law has experience in handling crop insurance litigation, and understands that farmers and ranchers should be able to trust and rely on their crop insurance agent. We will work with you to recover the damages caused by a crop insurance agent’s failure.