Opinion
June 12, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Westchester County (Colabella, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with one bill of costs to the respondents appearing separately and filing separate briefs.
Absent a specific request for coverage not already provided in a client's policy, there is no common-law duty of an insurance company or its agency to advise a client to procure additional coverage (see, e.g., Downey v. Allstate Ins. Co., 638 F. Supp. 322, 323; Erwig v. Cook Agency, 173 A.D.2d 439; Callahan v American Motorists Ins. Co., 56 Misc.2d 734). Moreover, while an insurance broker acting as an agent of its customer has a duty of reasonable care to the customer to obtain the requested coverage within a reasonable time after the request, or to inform the customer of the agent's inability to do so, the broker/agent owes no continuing duty to advise, guide, or direct the insured customer to obtain additional coverage (see, e.g., Hjemdahl-Monsen v. Faulkner, 204 A.D.2d 516, 517; Erwig v. Cook Agency, supra; Blonsky v. Allstate Ins. Co., 128 Misc.2d 981). Consequently, whether the defendant Benedict Cafagno Insurance Services is an agent of the defendant insurer Covenant Mutual Insurance Company, as the defendants contend, or a broker, as the plaintiffs contend, the court properly granted summary judgment to the defendants.
The record establishes that in requesting an upgrade in their liability insurance coverage from $300,000 to $500,000 per occurrence, the plaintiffs asked for a "top of the line" policy and indicated that they wanted to be "fully covered." However, the plaintiffs made no specific request for underinsurance coverage, and the defendants thus had no duty to recommend or obtain that coverage. Bracken, J.P., Rosenblatt, Krausman and Goldstein, JJ., concur.