Kuderer fines insurers, producers $495,200

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington state Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer’s office fined insurance companies, agencies and producers $495,200 between April and August of 2026 for insurance law violations. 

The two largest fines were levied against USAA Casualty Insurance Co. ($130,000) and Allstate Vehicle and Property Insurance Co. ($90,000) for violations in how the companies handled policyholders’ claims.

The total included another $215,000 in fines against 19 companies and $20,250 in fines against nine agencies and producers.

Company fines

Alaska National Insurance Co., Anchorage, Alaska; fined $40,000 (order 26-0133).

• The company charged garage rates that were not approved in its filings, impacting three policyholders, and failed to file its hired and non-owned rates before using them, impacting 2,298 policyholders.

Express Scripts, Inc., Wilmington, Del.; fined $35,000 (order 26-0034).

• Express Scripts, a healthcare benefit manager, did not report seven previous administrative and disciplinary actions from multiple state regulators in its initial application for registration and did not report a complete accounting of its administrative and disciplinary actions in subsequent annual filings. The company also did not report material changes to the OIC within the required timeframe and provided incorrect, incomplete, or false information to the OIC.

Providence Health Plan, Portland, Ore.; fined $30,000 (order 26-0018).

• Providence incorrectly denied 51 claims for physical therapy and occupational therapy services between January 2023 and August 2024. Providence incorrectly denied 40 of those claims because prior authorization approval was not obtained from Providence’s health care benefit manager, eviCore Healthcare MSI, LLC. Providence incorrectly denied 10 other claims due to medical necessity. Providence reprocessed the 51 impacted claims and paid $11,719.97 to the members and providers.

Amguard Insurance Co., Omaha, Neb.; fined $30,000 (order 26-0107).

• The company issued policies with incorrect rating factors in 852 instances and issued policies with superseded forms in 546 instances.

Unitrin Auto and Home Insurance Co., Dewitt, N.Y.; fined $35,000 (order 26-0109).

• The company used incorrect rating factors on 2,576 home insurance policies between 2019 and 2023, impacting 1,844 homeowners. 

First National Insurance Co. of America, Portsmouth, N.H.; fined $25,000 (order 26-0097).

• The company did not timely process consumers’ auto claims and related investigations and did not respond to their communications within the required timeframe on 19 claims between January of 2023 and July of 2024.

New York Marine & General Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $7,500 (order 26-0096).

• The company used and issued rates that were not approved in its filings in 256 transactions with 245 policies, which caused overcharged and undercharged premiums. The company returned and waived, respectively, the difference.

Medical Review Institute of America, LLC, Dover, Del.; fined $5,000 (order 26-0061).

• The company did not report a material change and did not file contract forms or amendments within the required timeframe.

Arch Insurance Co., Kansas City, Mo.; fined $5,000 (order 26-0039). 

• The company issued policies with incorrect construction types, rate types, and protection classes.

Praetorian Insurance Co., Harrisburg, Penn.; fined $5,000 (order 26-0044).

• The company applied incorrect construction year assignments and incorrectly listed the number of building units on renters’ policies, resulting in 49 policies with incorrect rating factors applied.

Dentists Insurance Co., Sacramento, Calif.; fined $5,000 (order 26-0144).

• The company used rates that were not approved in its filings

DTG Operations Inc., The Hertz Corp., Thrifty Car Rental; The Woodlands, Texas; fined $5,000 (order 26-0142).

• The company, on two occasions, told Washington consumers that they were required to purchase rental car insurance, and did business under an unregistered trade name without notifying the OIC.

UnitedHealthcare of Washington, Inc.; Seattle, Wash.; fined $5,000 (order 26-0027).

• UnitedHealthcare issued adverse benefit determinations or limited access to gender-affirming care in 50 claims, without assigning those claims to a health care provider with gender-affirming treatment experience to review and confirm the appropriateness of those determinations.

Stillwater Insurance Co., Santa Barbara, Calif.; fined $3,500 (order 26-0103).

• The company incorrectly applied sprinkler credits and construction type rating factors, which resulted in premium errors.

American Dental Examiners, Inc.; New Rochelle, N.Y.; fined $3,000 (order 26-0050).

• The company did not report a material change and file contract forms and amendments electronically within the required timeframe.

Brown & Brown Insurance Services, Inc. and Hays Companies, Inc.; Tampa, Fla.; fined $2,500 (order 26-0014).

• The companies did business under an unregistered trade name and failed to notify the OIC.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $2,000 (order 26-0051).

• The company did not file contract forms and amendments electronically within the required timeframe.

Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., New York, N.Y.; fined $1,500 (order 26-0101).

• The company did not file large group negotiated rates within the required timeframe.

Agency and producer fines

Jacob Collins, Spokane, Wash.; fined $6,500 (order 26-0084).

• Collins submitted five mortgage insurance applications on a consumer’s behalf without authorization. The producer then did not reply to one of the consumer’s questions and did not respond to the OIC’s initial inquiries within the required timeframe. Collins appeared to have electronically added the consumer’s signature on an application without their authorization.
• Collins reports they have improved their compliance procedures to ensure applications are authorized correctly. Collins’ insurance license was also placed on probation for two years, and they were ordered to complete 10 hours of ethics training.

Noelle Otersen, Liberty Lake, Wash.; fined $3,000 (order 26-0085).

• Otersen used their own cell phone to provide signature authorization for consumers’ life insurance applications and did not respond to questions from the OIC within the required timeframe. Otersen was also ordered to complete 20 hours of ethics training.

Robyn M. Roberts, Lawrenceville, Ga.; fined $2,500 (order 26-0117).

• Roberts sold insurance without a license on five occasions and did not inform a consumer of their settlement options.

InsuranceHub Leavitt Agency, Inc.; fined $2,500 (order 26-0118).

• On five occasions, the agency knowingly accepted insurance business from someone without a license and didn’t affiliate the person with the agency.

Sherry A. Johnson, Ephrata, Wash.; fined $2,000 (order 26-0040).

• On six occasions, Johnson listed consumers as “married” on their auto policy applications without documentation.

Citlally Mancilla and Perpetuus Insurance Agency, San Antonio, Texas; fined $1,500 (order 26-0134).

• Mancilla tried to sell insurance to two Washington residents before obtaining the required license. The agency failed to affiliate individual licensees authorized to represent the agency and allowed unlicensed individuals to sell insurance on its behalf.

PracticeProtection Insurance Services, LLC; Jacksonville, Fla.; fined $1,500 (order 26-0135).

• The company didn’t affiliate all of its individual licensees or ensure its producers were appropriately licensed, accepted business from an unlicensed producer, and allowed unlicensed people to sell insurance.

Mathew William Nicholas, Newport Beach, Calif.; fined $500 (order 26-0045). 

Michael Lawson, Dallas, Texas; fined $250 (order 26-0046). 

About the OIC

Kuderer’s office oversees Washington’s insurance industry to ensure that individuals, companies, agents, and brokers follow state laws designed to protect consumers. Since 2001, the office has assessed more than $46 million in fines, which are directed to the state’s general fund to pay for state services. 

The Office of the Insurance Commissioner publishes disciplinary orders against companies, agents, and brokers. Consumers can also look up complaints against insurance companies.  

For an insurance question or complaint, you may contact Kuderer's consumer advocates online or by phone at 800-562-6900.

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