In today's society, the trend seems to be to blame someone else whenever you can, and get paid to do it through lawsuits. Remember the woman who sued over the spilled hot coffee on her leg in the car? Or the woman who sued a fast food restaurant because her son was fat? Insurance agents also are vulnerable to all sorts of lawsuits.

One of the top reasons agents are sued is because of their failure to communicate important information to their customers, according to Virginia Bates of VMB Associates, a management consulting service for the insurance industry. Insureds have sued claiming the agent failed to explain coverages or to recommend coverages. They have sued claiming the agent used insurance jargon and so it was not clear to them what was covered and what was not. They have sued because they claim the agent never informed them about their choices.

But the most common claims from insureds are, "I didn't know" or "That was never offered to me." Thus, we have a perceived, or real, lack of communication.