Location: New York City, NY
Hello everyone! I have been concerned about this for a while and just want to know what you think if anyone has experience dealing with insurance, liability, and reports.
For about 1.5 years, I worked as a 1099 loss-control insurance inspector for an out-of-state company, completing property/general-liability insurance inspections, mostly in NYC. I was paid a flat fee per inspection. All assignments involved non-admitted Excess & Surplus lines carriers and came through the same customer, an insurance entity.
I inspected properties, took photos, completed Word report templates identifying me as the inspector, documented hazards, and made recommendations. The reports included tables for smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and sprinklers (locations, service dates, etc.) and were emailed to the company as editable .docx files with my photos.
Training, inspection scope, and “company protocol”
I received no formal training on how to conduct inspections or what areas I was required to access; I emailed the owner/president when I had questions.
Early on, I specifically asked whether I needed photos of every apartment in a mixed-use building. The owner told me one apartment was sufficient. Based on that instruction, I generally inspected/photographed the areas available rather than insisting on every unit. Later I began requesting access to all units, but full access was not always available or practical to coordinate since this job is done most effectively by doing multiple inspections in an area in one day.
Some assignment PDFs contained sentences such as “Verify Protective Safeguard: Smoke detectors must be functional and installed in all habitational units,” or similar involving extinguishers/sprinklers. I did not notice this language until later. Assignments also asked questions like whether snow removal was performed by the insured or subcontractors, which I understood as requiring me to ask the property contact and report the answer. I never asked the owner about these instructions or how to perform the inspections since every inspection/report I submitted was accepted bar some minor grammar or clerical corrections.
My IC agreement incorporated a separate “company protocol” by reference, but I was never provided one. When I asked, the owner generally described it as following inspection guidelines, being courteous, and performing inspections correctly. Importantly, the agreement expressly allowed the company to revise my reports pursuant to this protocol.
Concern about liability and report editing
Suppose a future fire occurs and someone is injured because a smoke/CO detector was missing in an apartment I never entered. Would I be liable for anything?
I'm also concerned about modifications after submission. The owner later assured me by email that removal of recommendations or anything major didn't happen, although my IC agreement contains an integrated document/no-modification-except-in-signed-writing provision which I think means verbal promises don't count.
Later, I added disclaimers stating that areas could be inaccessible, not all hazards may have been identified, recommendations were non-exhaustive, the inspection was for underwriting rather than certification of legal/life-safety compliance, and I assumed no responsibility for subsequent modifications. However, if the company could edit my reports, theoretically those disclaimers could have been changed too.
Contacting the insurance entity
About eight months into the job, I contacted the customer, or insurance entity, listed on the request forms asking whether I could submit reports directly to them and they responded that the vendor, or company I was working for, determines that. The company owner then told me I should not have contacted the customer, terminated me, reassigned my cases, and disabled my database access. I had previously asked the owner whether reports were always sent to the customer and he dodged the question; he said they were sent to the “right” people but said he could not CC me when sending them.
About a week after terminating me, he offered me assignments originating from another loss-control company while continuing to pay me through his company. I did those for several months and eventually resumed assignments directly from his company after assignments from the new one stopped shortly after I rejected some.
Earlier in the relationship, I had also asked him to sign a revised IC agreement because of my concerns. He refused and reassigned my cases. About two months later, I agreed to continue under the original agreement to receive more work.
Approximately seven months ago, he asked me to provide new copies of my driver's license/auto insurance and re-sign the IC agreement. Apparently the redacted drivers license and auto insurance I sent via the online job board messaging system when I first started suddenly was not enough. Maybe he did this as an excuse to get rid of me since I already showed doubts about the position from earlier interactions? I never provided these and have received no assignments since. My agreement permits me to terminate the relationship in writing with or without cause, which I am considering doing.
I'm also considering sending my approximately 100 original reports to the insurance entity's general email so there is an independent record of exactly what I submitted before any possible modifications. However, because the owner specifically instructed me not to send reports directly to them, I'm concerned that doing this could create confidentiality, contractual, privacy, legal, or other problems.
I also never spoke with the owner directly over the phone or video, all communications have been only through email, with his gmail account. He lists a phone number in his emails which I have called once to leave some information over voicemail. The company is relatively new and small.
My questions:
1. What realistic personal liability could I face? If a future fire, slip-and-fall, or other loss involves something I failed to identify—particularly in an area I didn't inspect—could an injured party, insured, carrier, insurance entity, or another party pursue me personally? Could an insurer rely on my report to deny coverage and attempt to shift responsibility for the resulting damages to me? How would the lack of training, owner's instructions, and possibility of subsequent report editing affect this?
2. Should I send my original reports directly to the insurance entity? Would sending them these provide useful evidence of exactly what I submitted, or could sending potentially confidential insurance/property information outside the company's established process—after specifically being told not to—create a greater legal problem?
Nothing has happened yet: I haven't been sued, contacted about a loss, or accused of wrongdoing. I'm concerned because E&S insurance operates under a different regulatory framework that is less strict than admitted carriers and insureds apparently have less recourse with their state. I'm worried that if one of my reports were ever involved in a coverage dispute, someone might attempt to place responsibility on me.
Separately, I believe I may have been misclassified as an independent contractor and am considering telling the government by filling out a form. I also intend to formally terminate the IC agreement and send the owner an email that I believe I was misclassified and also to opt out of the arbitration clause in the agreement. Those are separate issues; my main concern here is potential liability from the inspections and whether I should do anything with my preserved original reports.
