You know from your own insurance practice that Missouri makes a good state in which to build a book of insurance business. Missouri's attractions include not only its temperate climate, affordable housing, substantial population, and diverse economy, but also its large and growing insurance market. National Association of Insurance Commissioners data ranks Missouri ninth nationally in domestic insurers, twentieth in total premiums, in the top ten in earthquake and crop premiums, and in the top twenty in property and casualty premiums, with well over 50% premium growth in the past decade. Yet as attractive as Missouri is for your insurance practice, Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges could well lead to the loss of your Missouri insurance license and business.
Your best move if you face Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges is to retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for skilled, strategic, experienced, and effective defense. We are available in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Columbia, Independence, Lee's Summit, O'Fallon, St. Joseph, St. Charles, Blue Springs, St. Peters, Florissant, Joplin, Chesterfield, and all other Missouri locations. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our highly qualified attorney representation and for your best outcome to Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges.
Missouri Insurance Department Licensing Authority
You must deal with the Missouri Department of Insurance to preserve your license against disciplinary charges. Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 374.005 creates the Missouri Department of Insurance to regulate insurance practices within the state, including to enforce all producer licensing laws. Section 374.010 grants the Department of Insurance general powers to enforce all insurance laws in the state. Those powers clearly include the authority to solicit, receive, evaluate, and act on customer and public complaints about an insurance agent's conduct. Do not disregard your notice of disciplinary charges or doubt the Department's authority to pursue those charges. Instead, retain us to help you defend and defeat the charges.
Missouri Insurance Department License Requirement
You have no practical option to continue your Missouri insurance business other than to successfully defend Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges. You must retain your Missouri Department of Insurance license if you intend to continue your insurance practice within the state. Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.014 expressly requires a Department of Insurance license for any individual practicing insurance business within the state. Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 374.048 authorizes the Department of Insurance to obtain a court injunction against your unlicensed insurance practice, enforceable with contempt sanctions, including fines and imprisonment. The same law provides for civil forfeiture of insurance premiums and related assets earned through unlicensed practice. Section 374.049 extends those potential penalties to include five civil offense levels, with administrative penalties up to $250,000 and court penalties up to $1 million. You must not continue your insurance business in Missouri if you lose your Missouri Department of Insurance license. Let us help you defend your license rather than run the risk of unlicensed practice or loss of your valuable insurance business.
Missouri Discipline Multistate Licensure Issues
When planning your diligent defense of your Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges, you should keep in mind that the impact of those charges may go well beyond Missouri's borders. Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.141 authorizes the Missouri Department of Insurance to suspend or revoke your Missouri license if you suffer discipline of a license you hold from another state board in that other state. Section 375-141 mimics an identical provision in the Insurance Producers Model Act, adopted by many states nationwide. The widespread adoption of the Model Act means that discipline is, for practical purposes, reciprocal and presumptive or even automatic, from state to state, at least for states following the Model Act pattern. Put simply, if you lose your Missouri license to discipline, you'll likely lose other state insurance licenses and lose the ability to gain new licenses in other states. Let us help you defend your Missouri disciplinary charges so that you do not also lose your ability to practice insurance in other states.
Missouri Insurance Producer Misconduct Risks
You are not alone when facing Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges. Insurance practice is a risky business. Insurance practice is not only highly regulated but also technical and complex. Mistakes are easy to make and can be hard to correct. They can also carry enormous financial consequences. The Missouri Department of Insurance also encourages customer and consumer inquiries and complaints, increasing the ease and likelihood of investigations. Insurance agents can also handle or have access to large sums, not only in premiums but in payouts, presenting temptations to misappropriate and creating risks of mishandling. The point is that your Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges should not so embarrass, disturb, and daunt you as to cause you to ignore or minimize the charges, on the one hand, or admit to misconduct you did not commit, on the other hand. Let us help you defend your charges.
Missouri Insurance Producer Misconduct Types
While every disciplinary matter is unique in some respects, most disciplinary charges fall into common categories. Indeed, insurance commissioners nationwide developed the Insurance Producers Model Act and promoted its state-to-state adoption to ensure that insurance departments properly discourage, reach, and punish the most common forms of insurance agent misconduct. Missouri is among the many states under Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.141. The following subsections organize and summarize the Model Act's adopted in Missouri. We can help you defend and defeat Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges alleging any of the following misconduct forms.
Misconduct Directly Affecting Insurance Customer Interests
As to misconduct having direct effects on insurance customers, the Insurance Producers Model Act and Missouri statute prohibit intentional misrepresentation of insurance contracts or insurance applications. The Act and statute also prohibit falsifying insurance applications or forging signatures on applications and other insurance transaction documents. The Act and statute also prohibit misappropriating, converting, or withholding funds or property of customers or others in the course of insurance business.
Insurance Producer Fitness Issues
As to misconduct involving the fitness of an insurance agent, broker, or adjuster, the Model Act and Missouri statute authorize discipline for conviction of any felony crime. They also authorize Missouri discipline for license discipline by insurance boards in other states or jurisdictions. They also prohibit false statements on an insurance license application or renewal form and obtaining insurance licenses through other credential fraud. They also prohibit cheating on an insurance licensing exam by using unauthorized notes or materials. They also authorize discipline for failing to pay state court child support obligations and failing to pay state income taxes or comply with tax agency orders.
Insurance Producer Misconduct
As to misconduct involving insurance broker, agent, or adjuster misconduct, the Model Act and Missouri statute authorize discipline for violating insurance agent statutes, rules, or standards. They also authorize discipline for fraud, coercion, or dishonesty in insurance practices and for untrustworthiness, financial irresponsibility, or incompetence in insurance practice. They also authorize discipline for insurance business with an unlicensed individual and for insurance fraud, unfair competition, or restraint of trade. They also authorize discipline for violating insurance commissioner orders or subpoenas or for violating terms or conditions of discipline, including practicing after license suspension or revocation.
Additional Missouri Insurance Code Provisions
Beyond the above Model Act provisions, Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.14 adds discipline for failing to renew or surrender a license. Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.144 elaborates that discipline is also warranted for “any deception, device, scheme, or artifice to defraud” and related fraud and deceitful acts.
Missouri Insurance Department Reporting
You should be aware that Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.144 imposes a duty on the owner, officers, and managers of the insurance entity for which you work to report or correct your misconduct. Section 375.144 warns that an insurance entity can lose its license if its owner, officers, or manager fail to report or correct agent misconduct about which they knew or should have known. If you learn that an owner, officer, or manager believes that you violated an insurance rule or standard, let us help you make an accurate and convincing presentation that you did not violate any standards or have corrected the violation already without harm or loss. We may be able to help you forestall an unnecessary Department of Insurance complaint and investigation. We may also be able to help you respond to investigation requests in an accurate, truthful, complete, and credible fashion so as to head off formal disciplinary charges. And keep in mind that if you do face formal charges, they are still only allegations. Let us help you defend and defeat formal charges.
Defending Missouri Insurance Department Charges
Our attorneys can have several strategic and effective approaches to your defense of Missouri Department of Insurance charges, depending on your specific circumstances and the nature of the charges. Consider the following defenses that we may be able to raise on your behalf to defeat your charges or otherwise avoid punitive sanctions.
Missouri Disciplinary Defenses Challenging Complainant Credibility
Our first approach may be to challenge the merits of the factual allegations and the credibility of the complaining witnesses. Some complaining witnesses simply have bad memories. Others may recall facts correctly but misconstrue your good motives and innocent intentions. Other complaining witnesses have their own axe to grind, either using false allegations to coerce their agent, seeking civil liability to recover for their own errors, or stealing your customers and business. Some complaining witnesses have no factual foundation for their allegations, which they instead base on speculation, guess, conjecture, or hearsay. These are only a few of the ways our attorneys may be able to effectively challenge complaining witness credibility.
Missouri Disciplinary Defenses Justifying Your Actions
If, instead, the facts that complaining witnesses allege are substantially as things occurred, we may still be able to successfully defend you by justifying your actions. Your testimony, the testimony of your colleagues, and the testimony of a respected insurance consultant whom we retain on your behalf, may establish that your conduct met all standards. We may alternatively be able to show that emergency or special circumstances altered your standard of care, requiring you to engage in unusual but nonetheless appropriate practices. We may instead be able to show that you reasonably relied on the advice or direction of a supervisor or other authority, creating a safe harbor for you. We may alternatively be able to show that you exercised reasonable professional judgment on a complex matter open to varying practices and approaches under ambiguous standards. We may finally be able to show that you have already corrected the matter, that whatever you did led to no harm or loss, and that your otherwise sterling record of providing sound and valuable insurance services warrants no punitive sanction.
Missouri Insurance Department Procedures
Missouri Revisor of Statutes Section 375.141 and related laws refer to Chapter 621 setting forth rules for the Missouri Administrative Hearing Commission. Contested Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary cases go before the state's Administrative Hearing Commission to ensure respect for the accused insurance agent's constitutional due process rights. We can invoke your statutory and constitutional right to a formal hearing to contest your disciplinary charges. If you have already lost your hearing, we can pursue the available appeal and judicial review until we have achieved your best possible disciplinary outcome.
Premier Missouri Insurance License Defense
If you face Missouri Department of Insurance disciplinary charges, the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Missouri for your skilled, experienced, and effective defense. Our attorneys have successfully defended hundreds of insurance producers and other professionals across Missouri and nationwide. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our attorneys' highly qualified representation.
