Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

So What Does Your Fidelity Policy Actually Cover?

BY John N. Ellison
February 29, 2008

Businesses purchase fidelity insurance to cover their losses from crime such as employee theft and forgery. This need is usually most pronounced for banks and other financial service firms, where employees have access to enormous amounts of money. For these policyholders, misplaced trust in a resourceful employee can result in millions of dollars disappearing from the policyholder or its clients with only a few keystrokes. When policyholders turn to their fidelity insurance for relief, these businesses then learn that they may have misplaced their trust in their insurance companies, too. All too often, policyholders have to fight for the coverage they reasonably expected.

In perhaps the most widely repeated example, an insurance company will offer a business a fidelity policy for 'direct loss' of money due to theft or forgery. When an employee of the business steals a client's money or goods, or enriches herself through a forged document, and the business pays for its client's loss, most reasonable policyholders would think that the fidelity policy would provide relief. There was a dishonest act by an employee that directly resulted in the need to repay a client. Indeed, many businesses view this situation as the prototypical example of what they intended to insure against when purchasing a fidelity policy. Business reality is that under the doctrine of respondeat superior, employers are almost always strictly liable for losses caused by their employees' and agents' actions. When an employee steals from a client, the employer's responsibility to pay the loss follows like night follows day. However, insurance companies usually take the surprising position that the policyholder's loss was not 'direct,' and therefore is not covered at all.

A Reality-Denying View

Read These Next
Yachts, Jets, Horses & Hooch: Specialized Commercial Leasing Models Image

Defining commercial real estate asset class is essentially a property explaining how it identifies — not necessarily what its original intention was or what others think it ought to be. This article discusses, from a general issue-spot and contextual analysis perspective, how lawyers ought to think about specialized leasing formats and the regulatory backdrops that may inform what the documentation needs to contain for compliance purposes.

Hyperlinked Documents: The Latest e-Discovery Challenge Image

As courts and discovery experts debate whether hyperlinked content should be treated the same as traditional attachments, legal practitioners are grappling with the technical and legal complexities of collecting, analyzing and reviewing these documents in real-world cases.

Identifying Your Practice's Differentiator Image

How to Convey Your Merits In a Way That Earns Trust, Clients and Distinctions Just as no two individuals have the exact same face, no two lawyers practice in their respective fields or serve clients in the exact same way. Think of this as a "Unique Value Proposition." Internal consideration about what you uniquely bring to your clients, colleagues, firm and industry can provide untold benefits for your law practice.

Risks and Ad Fraud Protection In Digital Advertising Image

The ever-evolving digital marketing landscape, coupled with the industry-wide adoption of programmatic advertising, poses a significant threat to the effectiveness and integrity of digital advertising campaigns. This article explores various risks to digital advertising from pixel stuffing and ad stacking to domain spoofing and bots. It will also explore what should be done to ensure ad fraud protection and improve effectiveness.

Turning Business Development Plans Into Reality Image

This article offers practical insights and best practices to navigate the path from roadmap to rainmaking, ensuring your business development efforts are not just sporadic bursts of activity, but an integrated part of your daily success.