Legal Definitions - ostensible agent

Definition: An ostensible agent is a person who appears to be an agent of a principal, but who has no actual or express authority to act on behalf of the principal. The principal may have intentionally or unintentionally led third parties to believe that the person is an agent.

For example, a hospital may be held responsible for the actions of an independent contractor physician if the hospital holds the physician out as its employee and patients look to the hospital for care rather than the individual physician. This is known as "ostensible agency" or "apparent authority." In an emergency room setting, patients may accept services from whichever physician is assigned to their case, and the hospital may be held liable for the physician's actions.

Another example of ostensible agency is when an employer hires an independent contractor, but does something to suggest that the contractor actually works for the employer, or fails to correct this assumption. In this case, the employer can be held liable for the independent contractor's actions.

These examples illustrate how a principal can be held responsible for the actions of an ostensible agent, even if the agent has no actual authority to act on behalf of the principal.