An agent terminated by her agency for backdating auto insurance pink cards, is being sanctioned by the General Insurance Council of the Alberta Insurance Council for misappropriating funds from clients on two occasions.
Although the case details the agent’s history of issuing fictitious pink slips (at one point the agent had her binding authority suspended for printing a pink card prior to receiving a signed application) and also alleges that claims were not being submitted, the regulator assessed the highest penalty it could in the case, for just two instances where Megan Cartwright received monies from clients without remitting the payments to the agency or insurer.
A level 1 general insurance agency since July 2015, Cartwright’s certificate of authority was terminated in April 2023.
In the first instance Cartwright is being sanctioned for, the agent received a payment to her own email address without remitting payment – which went against the agency’s processes and procedures. In the second instance, Cartwright received cash and issued a receipt but failed to forward the cash by courier, as was the usual practice in instances where the agent received cash payments. “She had used this process regularly,” the decision in the case states, quoting correspondence with the agency terminating Cartwright. “There was no concern that she didn’t understand the process.”
The decision does not appear to include any correspondence with Cartwright, herself. It concludes by assessing a civil penalty of $5,000 per offense, for a total of $10,000. “If the penalty is not paid within 30 days, interests will begin to accrue at the rate of 12 per cent per annum,” the decision states.
