Insurance Professional License Defense in California

As a licensed insurance broker or agent in California, you know the financial and other professional and personal rewards of a California insurance practice. But your license is no guarantee of a continued insurance practice. Complaints against your license and license disciplinary charges can derail your insurance practice, disqualifying you from any such professional activity in the state. If you face California Department of Insurance disciplinary charges against your broker or agent license, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for your best disciplinary outcome to preserve and protect your insurance practice. We are available in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, Long Beach, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Stockton, Irvine, Riverside, Santa Ana, Chula Vista, Fremont, Santa Clarita, San Bernardino, Modesto, Fontana, and all other California locations. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our skilled and experienced attorney representation.

California Department of Insurance License Authority

To gain and hold an insurance license for insurance practice in California, you must deal with the California Department of Insurance. Section 1631 of California's Insurance Code prohibits any person from soliciting, negotiating, or effectuating a contract of insurance in the state without holding a license from the state's insurance commissioner. The California Department of Insurance is the state's licensing body for insurance brokers and agents. Section 1633 of California's Insurance Code makes it a criminal misdemeanor to sell insurance in the state without a valid license, punishable by up to a $50,000 fine and one year in jail. You must apply for your California insurance license through the Department of Insurance website using its official application forms and periodically renew your license. Let us help you address any licensing issues preventing your continued California insurance practice.

Types of California Insurance Agent Misconduct

The following discussion addresses the many disciplinary grounds that California's Insurance Code sets forth, on which California Department of Insurance officials may pursue license disciplinary charges. However, the Department alerts the public to the following common categories or types of insurance broker or agent misconduct. Let us help you defend any of these allegations of insurance broker, agent, or adjuster misconduct:

  • outright theft, embezzlement, or conversion of insurance premiums paid to the broker or agent rather than conveying those premiums to the underwriter for coverage;
  • bait-and-switch schemes, use of misleading titles and designations, and other deceptive marketing practices for general insurance products;
  • deceptive sale of health insurance supplements, plans, and other products related to Medical, Covered California, and the Affordable Care Act;
  • senior citizen scams by unscrupulous agents, replacing existing coverages to earn greater commissions or selling unsuitable insurance products;
  • creation and deployment of unauthorized insurance companies selling unauthorized products and failing to provide coverage, adjusting, and indemnity as promised;
  • public adjuster misconduct relating to settlement of insurance claims, including overcharging on fees, conflicts of interest with vendors, illegal solicitation, and refusal to disperse settlements;
  • kickbacks, bribery, and unlawful financial incentives for title work and insurance, among real estate agents and brokers in the sale of real property.

Department of Insurance Disciplinary Grounds

As you well know, California's Insurance Code imposes many requirements on the state's licensed insurance brokers and agents. Article 12 of the Insurance Code, for instance, prohibits certain compensation sharing, requires filing assumed names with the insurance commissioner, prohibits misleading names, and requires the display of your insurance license. Violating any of these provisions may lead to disciplinary charges. Section 1738 of Article 13 authorizes the Department of Insurance to discipline a broker or agent license on any of the above grounds that Article 6 of the Insurance Code sets forth. Sections 1638 and 1638.1 within Article 6 list the following grounds for license discipline:

  • inducing an insurance client to make a gift, investment, or loan, or to cosign a loan, to any person related by birth, marriage, or adoption to the insurance broker or agent, or friends or business acquaintances of the broker or agent;
  • demonstrating any lack of qualifications to conduct insurance practice meeting customary standards;
  • withdrawing from practice in a manner indicating the refusal to participate in insurance practice;
  • having a poor reputation for the conduct of insurance business, detrimental to the profession;
  • demonstrating a lack of integrity in insurance transactions;
  • suffering the suspension or revocation of another professional or vocational license on grounds also indicating unfitness for insurance practice;
  • credential fraud in obtaining or renewing an insurance license or false statements in insurance commissioner proceedings;
  • the conduct of insurance practice in a fraudulent or dishonest manner;
  • incompetence or untrustworthiness in any business conduct, including exposing insurance clients or others to the risk of loss;
  • misrepresenting the terms or effects of an insurance policy or contract;
  • civil judgment finding elder or dependent abuse, fraud, misappropriation, misrepresentation, or breach of fiduciary duty;
  • conviction of a felony or of a misdemeanor relating to insurance regulations; and
  • any other violation of insurance codes or standards or aiding or abetting another in any violation of insurance codes or standards.

Retain our skilled and experienced attorneys immediately if you face California Department of Insurance disciplinary charges on any of the above grounds or other grounds. The above misconduct issues and associated disciplinary charges can cripple your insurance practice and reputation if you do not handle the matter with our strategic and effective representation.

California Department of Insurance Investigation

The California Department of Insurance maintains both a Professional Standards Division and a Fraud Unit to enforce the above misconduct provisions. The Department of Insurance also staffs an Investigation Unit to support both the Professional Standards Division and Fraud Unit in responding to complaints against licensed insurance brokers and agents. Do not underestimate the resources of the Investigation Unit. Its website boasts that it employs ninety investigators assigned to field offices across the state. Take any notice of investigation seriously by promptly retaining our skilled and experienced defense attorneys.

Responding to Department of Insurance Investigation

If a client, client family member, insurance professional colleague, or other person complains to the California Department of Insurance about your conduct in the course of your insurance practice, the Investigation Unit may assign a field office investigator to interview the complainant and other witnesses, gather documents, and evaluate and build a potential disciplinary case. The investigator may not contact you for information and an interview until you have completed all or most of the other aspects of the investigation. If you hear of an investigation or receive the investigator's request for information and interview, retain us immediately so that we can help you prepare a defense to the potential disciplinary charges. We may be able to help you identify, gather, and present exonerating and mitigating evidence convincing the investigator to forego disciplinary charges. We may also be able to advocate and negotiate with Professional Standards and Fraud Unit officials for their voluntary dismissal of the case in favor of remedial measures that you can readily perform, such as restitution, training, education, mentoring, evaluation, and counseling.

California Department of Insurance Procedures

Article 13 of California's Insurance Code sets forth the procedures the Department of Insurance must follow when pursuing disciplinary actions against the Department's licensed insurance brokers and agents. Section 1737 of Article 13 states public protection as the purpose of pursuing disciplinary actions. Section 1738 expressly incorporates the protective procedures for contested cases under Chapter 5, Part 1, Division 3, Title 2 of California's Government Code. Those administrative procedures assure you of a constitutional right to due process including a formal hearing before an administrative officer. We can help you invoke those procedural protections, presenting your defense testimony, witnesses, and documentary evidence at the administrative hearing while cross-examining adverse witnesses and challenging adverse evidence. If you have already lost your hearing, the protective procedures provide for administrative and court review. Let us help you exhaust all available avenues for your disciplinary relief until we obtain your best possible licensing outcome.

California Department of Insurance Discipline

The California Department of Insurance has clear statutory and regulatory authority to discipline your insurance license up to suspension and revocation. However, license suspension or revocation are not the only disciplinary options. Article 13 of California's Insurance Code includes multiple provisions authorizing not only license suspension but, alternatively, license restriction and conditions. Those conditions may include such things as paying a fine or restitution to remove the threat of license suspension or revocation. License limitation may be to certain insurance offices, insurance products, or supervision of insurance practice. Remedial measures like medical evaluation and treatment, mental evaluation and counseling, mentoring, reporting, monitoring, additional insurance training, or education may be other options. The discretion of Department of Insurance disciplinary officials to impose a wide range of remedial measures or punitive sanctions enables our attorneys to advocate for the former and against the latter. Let us help you make your best case to mitigate any sanction, even if you acknowledge having committed some act outside of insurance standards.

Collateral Consequences of Discipline

You might do especially well to keep in mind the potential collateral consequences of California Department of Insurance license discipline. For instance, if you lose your California insurance license due to misconduct charges, then you may be unable to obtain a license for insurance practice in other states. Cutting and running is unlikely to be a sound option. Instead, let us help you face, defend, and defeat your current California disciplinary charges. If you lose your license to suspension or revocation, you must cease your insurance practice and may lose all or a substantial part of your employment income and benefits related to insurance practice, even if you are self-employed. If you work for another insurance professional's agency, you may suffer job termination even if your discipline amounts to little more than a reprimand or probation. Employers of professionals can be sensitive to reputational and civil liability issues when employing individuals with a record of misconduct.

You can readily imagine the potential impact on your other professional and personal relationships of losing your insurance license. You may also find yourself unable to gain other employment providing equivalent income, resulting in a loss of health insurance, housing, transportation, and other necessities both for yourself and your dependent family members. You plainly have a lot on the line when facing California Department of Insurance disciplinary charges if you have a substantial California insurance practice. Our attorneys have the skill and experience, as well as the reputation and relationships among professional licensing authorities, for your best defense of disciplinary charges.

Our Role in Your California Insurance License Defense

You may wonder exactly what our attorneys may do on your behalf to address your California Department of Insurance disciplinary charges. Foremost, we can appear on your behalf, notifying Department of Insurance investigators and other disciplinary officials that we are acting as your legal representatives in the matter. Our appearance gives us the opportunity to build the relationships of trust and confidence on which your matter may resolve most favorably. We can help you gather, organize, and present your exonerating and mitigating evidence both formally and informally throughout the proceeding. Often, we are able to arrange an early informal resolution conference to negotiate remedial measures and voluntary charge dismissal. If your matter goes to a hearing, we have the requisite administrative hearing skills to make your best defense case. If you have already suffered an adverse result, we can take available appeals to higher agency officials or the courts, as California administrative procedures allow.

Premier Insurance License Defense Attorneys

If you face California Department of Insurance disciplinary charges, do not retain unqualified local criminal defense counsel. Instead, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for the strategic and effective defense representation you need. Our skilled and experienced attorneys have helped hundreds of insurance and other professionals in California and nationwide in the successful defense of disciplinary charges. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.

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Attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm are committed to answering your questions about Physician License Defense, Nursing License Defense, Pharmacist License Defense, Psychologist and Psychiatrist License Defense, Dental License Defense, Chiropractic License Defense, Real Estate License Defense, Professional Counseling License Defense, and Other Professional Licenses law issues nationwide.
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