Where an insurance policy requires that written notice be given to its “agent,” oral notice to a broker who is not an agent of the insurer is not sufficient.

The policy specified that notice of a claim must be given to “any agent of ours” within the state and that such notice must be written. Where the insured provided oral notice of a claim to its insurance broker, who was not an agent of the insurer, such notice was not sufficient under the express terms of the policy.

Case Law Alert - 1st Qtr 2011