You need to call the closest big city "7 On Your Side" type reporter. Tell your story. Show them the emails. Have the media bring so much heat on these people/insurance companies that they'll be begging for bankruptcy.

And yes I'm serious. ESPECIALLY if everyone involved denies coverage.
Someone must be held responsible for this. Their negligence enabled this low life to do what he did. The notion that these people think that they're just going to walk away from this without you being made whole makes my blood boil.

Obviously I am not a lawyer but here I go. Denial because of an intervening criminal act seems lame. Would the insurance have paid if the shipment just disappeared and no criminal act was determined? The guy who stole the item was working as a contractor for the broker. The item was never delivered and eventually was found to be stolen by the broker's contractor.The emails where the broker said that he is responsible directly link him to the driver. OP's contract is with the broker and the broker never completed the contract. Either his insurance should cover the loss, because that is why you buy insurance, or the bond should cover the loss.
OP hired the broker to do a job, he covered his bases as well as he could by obtaining an insurance certificate with him added as a loss payee and made sure the shipment was bonded. He should not suffer any loss.

The broker is responsible 100%, and although he majorly screwed up by not confirming that the driver's insurance was valid, he should not have to go bankrupt when he has insurance and is bonded to cover a loss.

Man. What a thread. I need to check Texags more often.

Unfortunately no update on the criminal front. Haven't heard from the detective since he got the phone info a couple weeks ago.

On the broker/insurance front, we waited about a week for them to finally send us over their insurance coverage so we can see the policy and a possible angle to get them to pay. They just sent it over Friday. My attorney is reviewing. The broker is still pushing the "let's work together" against their own insurance to make them pay route.

Next step will likely be filing on their broker bond. My attorney seems to think I'll need a judgment to do that but that's not my understanding (from Google and chat gpt) but he may just be looking at it from a "sure shot" standpoint, meaning if we take them a judgement the bond has to pay out right away instead of giving us the run around.

SteveBott said:

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I'm not an attorney, not even on the internet, but I agree with your attorney. A judgement would force the issue with both the bondsman AND your broker.

The broker could be put out of business if the bond company pays and he can't get another bond. So they may decide to cover the loss to avoid that situation.

I'm guessing the broker wants to play friends with you to avoid that problem

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Yes, I am just hoping to avoid litigation which will lead to more stress, money spent, etc.

I have already spent way more time and stress on this situation than I should have. The whole thing has sucked, a lot.

In a just world, that dude would be missing a couple hands.