Babiarz v. Stearns

Illinois Appellate Court
Civil Court
Consumer Fraud Act
Citation
Case Number: 
2016 IL App (1st) 150988
Decision Date: 
Thursday, June 30, 2016
District: 
1st Dist.
Division/County: 
Cook Co., 4th Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed.
Justice: 
COBBS

Plaintiff purchased 3 annuities from Defendant life insurance company at suggestion of Defendant agent. Plaintiff filed action for breach of fiduciary duty, negligent misrepresentation, and other fraud theories. Fixed indexed annuities are insurance products exempt from Illinois Securities Law. Ample evidence in record that Plaintiff should have known of alleged misstatements when she received policy folders. Thus, negligence and fraud claims properly dismissed as untimely. Although Defendant agent was licensed as investment advisor and broker, he was also registered insurance producer and was appointed as agent of Defendant company, and was acting not as investment advisor but as insurance agent. Although insurance brokers owe their clients a fiduciary duty, insurance agents do not. (McBRIDE and HOWSE, concurring.)