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New Jersey Supreme Court rules brokers can be sued under fraud law - Business Insurance Skip to content Register for free Search Search Log In Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers Risk Management Cyber Risks Pricing Trends Mergers & Acquisitions Technology Sponsored Content WSIA RISKWORLD Workers Comp & Safety Workers Comp Cost Control Pain Management Workplace Safety International EMEA Asia-Pacific Latin America People Events BI Intelligence Top 100 Agents & Brokers Best Places to Work 2025 Lists Directories Insurance Pricing BI Stock Index Magazine Current Issue Past Issues Subscribe Women to Watch ALL INsurance Resources Risk Perspectives Sponsored Content Webinars White Papers New Jersey Supreme Court rules brokers can be sued under fraud law by Richard Sine Agents and Brokers , E&O Jul 16, 2026 New Jersey’s highest court reversed course on a nearly two-decade-old precedent, ruling that insurance brokers, producers and agents are not shielded from consumer fraud claims simply because they hold state licenses. The Supreme Court of New Jersey on Wednesday unanimously reversed an appellate division decision in Lowe v. Audet , reviving a neurosurgeon’s consumer fraud claims against two insurance brokers and Creative Financial Group, their New Jersey-based firm. The physician alleged the brokers misrepresented the scope of disability coverage sold to him over more than a decade, resulting in reduced benefits after a vision condition ended his surgical career. Lower courts had dismissed the fraud claims citing a 2006 appellate ruling that treated insurance brokers as “semi-professionals” exempt from the Consumer Fraud Act, similar to doctors and lawyers. But in 2019, the same appellate court said the exception should only apply to professions recognized as “learned based on the requirement of extensive learning and erudition.” Justice Lawrence Fasciale, writing for the court, said the semi-professional exception “has no support in the text” of the Consumer Fraud Act. He noted that brokers’ training requirements are “minimal,” pointing out that insurance producers need only complete “a 20-hour state-approved course for each license type, with no requirement for a high school diploma or equivalent.” The court also found that brokers “were permitted to advertise at the time the (Consumer Fraud Act) was adopted,” meaning they never qualified for the narrow historical justification that protects physicians, attorneys and theologians. The court said that extending the exemption to brokers would let the exception “swallow the rule,” undermining a law designed to be one of the nation’s strongest consumer protection statutes. While the ruling clears the way for the physician’s fraud claims to proceed, the justices stopped short of eliminating the broader “learned professional” exception altogether, leaving that question for a future case. The court also invited the New Jersey Legislature to weigh in on which, if any, professionals should be exempt from the law. The case was returned to the trial court for further proceedings. 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