Looking to help out a client?
Remember not to do that at the expense of an insured’s privacy.
Recently, B.C. broker Tak-Lin Rachael Li was reprimanded by the Insurance Council of B.C. for looking up a phone number on the public insurer’s database on behalf of a client.
Li was working at an insurance agency on April 19, 2012, when she received a call from someone who she described as a long-term agency client. The client asked her for the phone number of a third party with whom he had an accident, saying the other driver was “at fault” and that he and the other driver were going to discuss settling the loss for the accident without making a claim.
The broker then conducted a search of the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC)'s Autoplan Data Capture database using the information provided by the client and obtained the driver's telephone number. She called the client approximately 10 minutes later and provided him with the telephone number.
The broker did not provide the client with any other information about the driver.
In deciding to issue a reprimand instead of a more severe penalty, the council distinguished between breaches of privacy that were caused by negligence, versus those cause by intentional behaviour. It then catalogued a series of privacy breaches involving brokers and the consequences.
Other privacy breaches included:
• A broker accessed the ICBC database for the purpose of providing confidential information about a vehicle's registered owner to an individual that had an extensive criminal history, including narcotics trafficking, assault, and a weapons offence. The broker was aware of the individual's lengthy criminal background.
• A broker watched someone park closely in front of her, and thought that the individual had struck her vehicle. The two argued, and the broker contacted her agency to obtain personal information about the driver and the ownership of the driver's vehicle. The broker then left a threatening note on the driver's windshield.
• Similarly, a broker accessed the ICBC database to determine the name of the owner of a vehicle on behalf of a friend who was involved in a road rage incident.
• One broker accessed the ICBC database to obtain an ICBC policyholder's address, which he provided to a client, despite knowing that the client wanted to place a lien on the policyholder's vehicle.
• A broker was fined $1,000 after he mistakenly placed insurance records containing confidential client information in the recycling bin of his residential condominium building. Council accepted that the licensee did not intentionally dispose of the documents in an inappropriate manner.
