Washington Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s office issued $495,200 in fines against insurance companies, agencies and producers between April and August 2026 for violations of state insurance laws.
The largest penalties included fines against USAA Casualty Insurance Co. and Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Co. related to claims handling. The Washington Office of the Insurance Commissioner (OIC) also reported $215,000 in penalties against 19 other companies and $20,250 against nine agencies and producers.
Among the company enforcement actions, Alaska National Insurance Co. was fined $40,000 for using unapproved rates, including hired and non-owned rates that affected 2,298 policyholders.
Express Scripts was fined $35,000 for failing to properly disclose previous regulatory actions and material changes to the OIC, along with providing incorrect or incomplete information.
Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Co. received a $35,000 fine after using incorrect rating factors on 2,576 homeowners policies between 2019 and 2023, affecting 1,844 homeowners.
Providence Health Plan and Amguard Insurance Co. were each fined $30,000. Providence was cited for incorrectly denying 51 physical and occupational therapy claims. The insurer later reprocessed the claims and paid $11,719.97 to affected members and providers. Amguard was cited for hundreds of policies issued with incorrect rating factors and outdated forms.
First National Insurance Co. of America was fined $25,000 for delays in processing auto claims, conducting investigations and responding to consumers.
The OIC also took enforcement action against individual insurance producers and agencies.
Jacob Collins of Spokane received the largest producer penalty at $6,500. According to the OIC, Collins submitted five mortgage insurance applications without a consumer’s authorization and appeared to electronically add the consumer’s signature to an application without permission. His insurance license was placed on probation for two years, and he was ordered to complete 10 hours of ethics training.
Noelle Otersen was fined $3,000 and ordered to complete 20 hours of ethics training for violations involving signature authorization on life insurance applications and failure to respond to OIC inquiries within required timeframes.
Other penalties involved selling insurance without a license, accepting business from unlicensed individuals, improperly completing insurance applications and failing to properly affiliate producers with agencies.
The enforcement actions reflect a range of violations involving claims practices, rating and filing requirements, licensing, consumer authorization and regulatory reporting.
Information for this article was provided by Office of the Insurance Commissioner Washington State. Views and claims expressed in this article are those of the source company and do not necessarily reflect the views of AgencyEquity.com. This article may have been edited with the help of AI.
