A B.C. broker received a $1,000 fine for allowing a client to sign her ex-husband’s name on vehicle transfer and insurance forms before obtaining written authorization to act on his behalf.
About one week after she signed the forms using her ex-husband’s name, the broker’s client secured a power of attorney from her ex-husband authorizing the transfer.
The province’s insurance regulator recognized that broker Ephraim Joshua Azucena Dela Cruz’s actions were intended to make life easier for the client.
“Council accepted that the licensee's actions were solely to convenience the client,” the Insurance Council of B.C,” wrote in its intended decision. Even so, the regulator found, the broker “should have known that allowing the customer to sign on behalf of her ex-husband without written authorization was wrong.”
The broker’s client bought a new car in August 2012. As part of the deal, she traded in her old car, which was registered under her name and the name of her ex-husband, who lived in the Philippines.
The broker attended the dealership and processed the required ICBC transfer forms. Before completing the process, the client showed up with a blank vehicle transfer form that had apparently been signed by the ex-husband a month earlier. The broker said the blank transfer form with the signature was not acceptable and a new transfer form was required.
The client told the broker that she would get a power of attorney from her ex-husband authorizing the transactions.
The next day, the client arrived at the dealership and told the broker that she had her ex-husband’s permission to proceed. The power of attorney documents would follow, she told the broker.
Based on this information, the broker prepared the transfer documents. The client signed all three of them using her ex-husband’s name.
On the same day, the ex-husband executed a power of attorney in the Philippines, authorizing the broker’s client to act on his behalf. The client received her ex-husband’s power of attorney documents one week later.
