Apparent Authority of Agent to Bind Principal

You may have heard the terms actual authority and apparent authority. This pertains to the authority of an agent to bind its principal. Focusing on apparent authority, a recent case provided a worthwhile definition: The doctrine of apparent agency stems from “the policy ‘that a principal should be estopped to deny the authority of an agent when the principal permitted an appearance of authority in the agent and, in so doing, justified a third party's reliance upon that appearance of authority as if it were actually conferred upon the agent.' ” To show apparent agency, a plaintiff must establish “(a) a...