Opinion ID: 1967106
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Disclosure as an Agent.

Text: Worldwide next asserts that it is an agent of its customers and if the customer is authorized to receive the information under the statute, it is authorized to receive the information as an agent of the customer. It is not necessary for us to determine if Congress or our legislature intended the information to be disclosed under an agency theory. Clearly, the relationship between Worldwide and its customers falls far short of an agency relationship. An agency relationship results only when there is an understanding between the parties that creates a fiduciary relationship under which the fiduciary is subject to the directions of the principal and acts on account of the principal. Benson v. Webster, 593 N.W.2d 126, 130 (Iowa 1999). Worldwide is not subject to control of its customers and does not act on account of its customers. The relationship, plain and simple, is one of seller and buyer, and Worldwide cannot artificially create an agency relationship by designating the relationship as an agency in its request forms. See Ward v. Mgmt. Analysis Co. Employee Disability Benefit Plan, 135 F.3d 1276, 1284 (9th Cir.1998) (existence of agency relationship is not governed by a party's stipulation).