Question

Bill Daniels was an extraordinarily successful businessman whose professional career centered on integrity, honesty, respect, and a fair outcome for all involved. His ethical standards were practiced daily throughout his life from his first business in Casper, Wyoming, to his cable business success in Denver, Colorado, to the Bill Daniels Foundation he created, one of the largest foundations in the Rocky Mountain region. Bill Daniels was known as a man whose word was his bond.

Part I

Bill Daniels was born in Greely, Colorado, in 1920 and grew up during the Depression. After attending the New Mexico Military Institute and serving as a combat pilot during two world wars, Daniels began his first business in the early 1950s. He opened a small insurance agency in Casper, Wyoming, the Bill Daniels Company Insurance. When one of Daniels’s clients filed a final claim for $11,000 due to a loss the client had sustained, Daniels discovered the insurance company he had represented and written the policy on had declared bankruptcy. The policy that Daniels had written was worth nothing. Daniels felt personally liable since he had sold the insurance policy to the client and the client had purchased the policy based upon Daniels’s representation and word. Bill Daniels felt terrible. Eleven thousand dollars was a huge loss. Daniels knew he had done nothing wrong professionally; yet the client had made the purchase based upon Daniels’s advice and it was the client who now had no insurance coverage.

1. What are the legal requirements since Daniels sold the policy? From a business perspective, what is Daniels’s obligation to the client? What is the ethical course of action for Daniels to take in this situation? What would you do if you were Daniels?

Answer 1

Answer 1:

The legal requirements since Daniels sold the policy is that Daniel need to state the insurance company’s terms and conditions to the client and client to understand the insurance company’s term and condition and accept the policy. Legally Daniel sends the insurance policy to client on behalf of insurance company. Legally insurance company is liable for all the terms and condition of the policy to client. Daniel is not liable for any coverage or warranty.

From a business perspective, Daniels’s obligation to the client is that Daniel will help the client to understand the insurance company’s terms and conditions and help the client to understand the process for claiming under the coverage mentioned in the policy. Daniel I the facilitator to the client. Daniel can help and guide the client to process his claim.

The ethical course of action for Daniels to take in this situation is that Daniel is ethically responsible for arranging the client to get his claim processed. Since Daniel is the face of insurance company to the client, so ethically Daniel should extent all his support to ensure that client get the promises made by Daniel on behalf of the insurance company while selling the policy to client.

If I would be the Daniel, then I will do to favor the client and help and extent all the help possible to ensure that the client get hi claim processed and client recover his claim amount. Being the insurer on behalf of the company, I will ensure that all policies which I had sold out to the various clients will all get their expected return or claim as and when needed within the time period of the policy.