The Alberta Insurance Council has published a new decision of its general insurance council, in a case where it was alleged that the agent intentionally provided false or misleading information to insurers and insureds alike on multiple occasions.
Although it was originally alleged that Myrbel Salvador was guilty of misrepresentation, fraud, deceit, untrustworthiness and dishonesty in 16 cases (the agent admitted to the points made by their agency in every instance), ultimately 12 met the objective and subjective elements of the applicable legal test under the province’s Insurance Act.
Transgressions during calls
The detailed decision outlines each of the cases where Salvador’s notes did not match the recorded call with the insured. Transgressions during the calls included failing to comprehensively review policies, discuss them with clients and offer all eligible coverages and endorsements. (When prompted by the agency’s system to do so, she responded to application questions without asking the client.)
On multiple occasions she applied winter tire discounts without asking if the client had obtained winter tires, wrote that she’d obtained consent from clients when she had not, at one point impersonated a client to obtain their abstract and claims experience letter without authorization, altered documents and wrote that higher liability coverage amounts were offered when they were not. In the agency’s audit of 106 policies, it found a 55 per cent error rate, including 12 policies with verified premium impact and five that were written without meeting underwriting criteria.
Fraud, deceit, dishonesty
“Clients are never well served when information is inaccurately or falsely recorded, as this false or inaccurate information may lead to coverage being denied or cancelled, rendering the client uninsured,” the decision states. “The council finds on 12 counts, the agent’s conduct was intentional, and it is fraud, deceit, dishonesty, untrustworthiness and/or misrepresentation.”
Following this, the council levied a $750 fine for each offence, for a total fine of $9,000. Salvador was also suspended for 30 days.
