Texas insurance brokers, agents, adjusters, and other licensed professionals can have huge advantages in their insurance practice in the state. The huge Texas population, its vast and dynamic economy, including its vibrant business startup culture, the substantial value of its commercial, industrial, agricultural, and residential properties, its frequent natural disasters, and other factors make for a particularly dynamic insurance market. You must, though, secure and retain your Texas Department of Insurance license to continue your insurance practice in Texas. Insurance license disciplinary charges for any form of misconduct, including violating insurance standards, can derail and destroy your Texas insurance practice. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for your best outcome to Texas Department of Insurance disciplinary charges. Preserve and protect your Texas insurance practice. We are available in Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Plano, Lubbock, Laredo, Irving, Garland, Frisco, Amarillo, Arlington, and all other Texas locations. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our strategic and effective attorney representation.
Texas Department of Insurance License Authority
The Texas Department of Insurance is the state authority that you must deal with to obtain and maintain your insurance license. Section 4001.001 of the Texas Insurance Code declares the Code's purpose to license and regulate insurance practice in the state. Texas Insurance Code Section 4001.101 expressly prohibits the unlicensed practice of insurance, including soliciting or receiving insurance applications, aiding in insurance transactions, acting as an agent of an insurer, or selling insurance or insurance product lines. Texas Insurance Code Section 101.001 commits the Department of Insurance to protect the public against unauthorized and unlicensed insurance practices. The Insurance Code's Section 101.103 authorizes the insurance commissioner to order the cease and desist of the unlicensed practice of insurance, impose administrative penalties, and seek civil fines. Do not expect to practice insurance in Texas after losing your license to disciplinary charges. Instead, get our help defending your disciplinary charges.
Types of Texas Insurance Agent Misconduct
The Texas Department of Insurance publishes its disciplinary action reports against its licensed insurance brokers, agents, and adjusters. The dozens or even hundreds of published disciplinary action reports document the following types of insurance broker, agent, or adjuster misconduct. Our attorneys can defend you against any of these types of insurance misconduct allegations:
- theft of insurance premiums paid through the broker or agent to the insurance company;
- theft of insurance proceeds paid through the broker or agent to the insured policyholder;
- offers of one form of insurance product when the broker or agent supplies another form, in a bait-and-switch scheme;
- broker or agent use of misleading titles and designations to deceive a customer into misunderstanding the professional's role, hiding conflicts of interest;
- misrepresentation of insurance coverages, concealing of coverage conditions or exceptions, and similar fraudulent or deceptive marketing practices;
- sale of duplicative or inappropriate Medicare or other health insurance supplements, plans, and other products targeting the elderly or other vulnerable populations;
- repeatedly replacing existing coverages with new but equivalent coverages to earn greater commissions than warranted;
- using unauthorized companies to sell unauthorized insurance products;
- promising and providing coverage without providing promised indemnity, adjusting, and defense services;
- public adjuster overcharging on settlement of insurance claims;
- public adjuster conflicts of interest, illegal solicitation, and failure to disperse settlement proceeds;
- unlawful financial incentives for real estate agents and brokers or others in the sale of real property for title insurance and services.
Texas Department of Insurance Disciplinary Grounds
Texas Insurance Code Section 4005.101 lists the disciplinary grounds on which you may face charges for one or more of the above acts or for other acts violating Texas Department of Insurance rules or insurance practice standards. Those grounds include:
- willful violation of a Texas insurance law;
- intentional material misstatements in a license application;
- obtaining a license or license renewal by fraud or misrepresentation;
- misappropriating, converting, or illegally withholding insurer or policyholder money;
- engaging in fraudulent or dishonest practices;
- materially misrepresenting insurance policy terms;
- misrepresenting comparisons among insurance and annuity contracts;
- offering or giving a rebate of a premium or commission to the insured;
- felony conviction;
- failure to maintain an active insurance practice; or
- obtaining a license to obtain insurance for oneself or one's business.
Texas Insurance Code Title 13, Subchapter B, adds several other prohibitions having to do with paying compensation to unlicensed individuals, receiving additional fees beyond ordinary compensation, and continuing to practice after suspension or revocation of a license.
Defense of Texas Insurance License Charges
We are prepared to defend you against charges brought on any of the above disciplinary grounds. Just because you face a charge does not mean that the Texas Department of Insurance has credible evidence that you committed a wrong or that you must suffer a license suspension or revocation even if you did commit a wrong. The disciplinary officials may be acting on false, exaggerated, or unsupported allegations. They may be on a figurative fishing expedition looking for evidence of wrongdoing that they do not have. You may not have done what the complainant alleges. The complainant may have misidentified you for another broker or agent who committed the wrong or may have fabricated allegations out of vengeance or for other illicit purposes. Alternatively, you may have acted on the reasonable instructions of your agency employer, supervisor, or legal representative, within a safe harbor, even if in arguable violation of vague and unevenly applied standards. Your wrong, if any, may not have caused any loss or harm, or risk of loss or harm, and you may have promptly corrected your wrong when realizing the circumstances. We may be able to raise these and other sound defenses on your behalf. To give in to the charges without first retaining our skilled and thorough review and evaluation. Let us help you plan and implement your best path forward.
Texas Department of Insurance Investigation
Section 4001.007 of the Texas Insurance Code authorizes the Department of Insurance to investigate complaints against the Department's licensed insurance brokers, agents, and adjusters. The same section empowers investigators to administer oaths and examine witnesses to alleged wrongdoing by a licensee of the Department. Underestimating the Department's commitment and resources is a bad error. Instead, retain us to promptly and effectively answer and defend the charges, beginning with responding to the investigation. We may be able to help you present accurate, truthful, and complete evidence and information leading to a dismissal of the allegations at the investigation stage before your matter reaches formal charges.
Responding to Department of Insurance Investigation
If the Texas Department of Insurance receives a complaint from a client or customer, their family member, an insurance professional colleague, an employer representative, or another individual, and the Department finds the complaint to potentially state a credible violation of Department insurance rules and standards, then it will assign an investigator. You should understand that the investigator is likely to complete all other investigations before contacting you for an interview and records. Your interview may, in other words, be a trap to induce you to conceal or misrepresent facts the investigator already knows, increasing your disciplinary risks for obstructing an investigation. Promptly retain us as soon as you learn of an investigation involving your actions. We can help you prepare for your interview so that your information is accurate, truthful, and comprehensive.
Texas Department of Insurance Procedures
You generally have the right to constitutional due process when facing state licensing board discipline, meaning a right to fair notice and a fair hearing before an impartial decision maker. Texas Insurance Code Section 4005.104 satisfies that constitutional guarantee by promising you a formal administrative hearing according to the state's administrative hearing code, in the event that you dispute the disciplinary charges. The state's administrative hearing code has other provisions for fair notice of the charges, prehearing conferences, and post-hearing appeals. Our attorneys can invoke those protective procedures to their best effect. We can present your exonerating and mitigating evidence at the administrative license hearing, cross-examine adverse witnesses, and challenge adverse evidence. If you have already lost your hearing, we can take the available administrative appeal, showing any error in the adverse decision for its reversal and your license reinstatement. If you have already lost your license and all appeals, Section 4005.105 permits application for a renewed license after a five-year waiting period. Let us help you evaluate and pursue these protective rights for your best disciplinary outcome.
Texas Department of Insurance Discipline
The Texas Department of Insurance has broad discretion to impose a range of license penalties. Just because you face disciplinary charges does not mean that you must lose your license to suspension or revocation. Texas Insurance Code Section 4005.102 does authorize suspension or revocation but alternatively permits the Department of Insurance to impose a mere reprimand, probation, or other administrative penalty. Section 4005.103 further permits the Department of Insurance to limit or condition your license during the probation term. We can help you present your best defense in mitigation of punitive sanctions, even if you committed misconduct, so that you may be able to preserve your license, employment, and reputation. We may even be able to negotiate remedial relief, such as additional education or training, or mentoring, monitoring, and supervision, as an alternative to punitive measures, leaving you with no record of discipline.
Collateral Consequences of Discipline
When evaluating how to respond to a Texas Department of Insurance disciplinary proceeding, keep in mind the potential collateral consequences of license discipline. Any discipline, even as little as a reprimand or probation, could cause your employer to terminate your employment or cause your clients or customers to find another broker or agent. That's why defending the charges with our skilled representation makes sense: to minimize the risk of discipline as much as possible. Discipline could also cost you important relationships with other network insurance professionals, leadership or teaching opportunities in the insurance field, and the opportunity to grow your insurance practice through new relationships or licenses in other jurisdictions. Loss of employment related to discipline can also have severe impacts on your personal and household finances, as well as on your family responsibilities and relationships. Depending on your household finances, you could lose critical necessities like housing, transportation, and health insurance. Beware of these and other collateral impacts. Get our strategic and effective representation.
Our Role in Your Texas Insurance License Defense
Our attorneys have the substantial skills and experience in administrative license proceedings to strategically deploy and pursue your procedural protections for your best disciplinary outcome. We can appear on your behalf as your legal representatives in the proceeding, requiring Texas Department of Insurance officials to communicate with us and receive our communications, advocacy, and negotiation on your behalf. We may be able to arrange early reconciliation conferences at which to present your exonerating and mitigating information, seeking early voluntary dismissal of your disciplinary charges. We may alternatively be able to show remedial measures that you have already taken or are readily able to take to correct any wrong or risk of loss about which Department officials express a concern. If, instead, your matter proceeds to a formal hearing, we can present your testimony, the testimony of other witnesses on your behalf whose attendance we secure, and your documentary defense evidence. We can also take available appeals and seek available court review if you have already lost your hearing.
Premier Insurance License Defense Attorneys
When facing Texas Department of Insurance disciplinary charges, do not retain unqualified local criminal defense counsel. Instead, hire the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for the skilled and experienced defense representation you need. We help hundreds of insurance brokers, agents, adjusters and other professionals across Texas and nationwide in the successful defense of disciplinary charges. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.
