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I have never seen a submission for E&O coverage from an H&R Block or a Jackson Hewitt, I am just curiouse who writes these guys? Thanks.

I'd bet they are either self insured by corporate or there is a program that has an exclusive.

H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt are franchises, so ultimately I believe it is the owner's decision whom to buy from. However, I'd like to know whether the parent company endorses a particular carrier, and if so, who?

I would bet that corporate has a clause or something in the franchise agreement that requires the owners of the individual owners to buy from a particular carrier. I know this isn't quite the same, but a few months ago I was quoting a Taekwondo USA (franchise) and I was told that they only are allowed to write the liability through one company. The problem was, the limit on property damage to rented premises wasn't high enough. Otherwise I never would have known they had this type of arrangement.

Even with an exclusive, the franchisor can't make a franchisee do business with one particular carrier. I could almost guarantee their franchisee agreement states they must carry coverage and list the franchisor as an additional insured. If the Franchisor indicated one specific carrier they would be opening themselves up to possibly a very, very, large lawsuit for vicarious liability. Class action kind. I doubt the franchisors attorney would put that in an agreement.

However, franchisee's are usually uneducated about this matter and go with the company the franchisor has made an arrangement with,simply because they dont know better. One last note, I think it would be fair to say the franchisors is making a penny off of the companies that do business with the PREFERRED vendor, not exclusive.