A former general insurance agent will pay $5,000 – the maximum amount the Alberta Insurance Council can levy in the case – after she was terminated for intentionally omitting relevant claim, conviction and payment history from insurance applications, to obtain coverage or favourable premiums in circumstances where coverage would likely have been denied.
Heather Martinson, an agent holding various forms of general insurance certificates of authority since October 2004, was terminated by her agency in October 2019. Her agency informed the insurance council that she was released with cause. At the time, it pointed to 27 files where inaccurate information, including non-payment information, accident claims, convictions, ratings errors, missing signatures and omitted information, had been sent to insurance companies.
In its termination letter to Martinson, the agency also accused her of intentionally withholding and misrepresenting information on applications made for friends and family in order to obtain coverage that would have been denied or granted at a higher premium.
During the course of its investigation, the insurance council agreed that Martinson should be allowed to review the policies in detail where wrongdoing had been alleged. After reviewing the files, Martinson informed the council that she would not be providing a response and that it should proceed without one.
In its decision, the council says the evidence proves that the agent intentionally entered false information to obtain favourable terms coverage and premiums for her clients that they would likely not have been able to obtain had she entered the correct information. “The council was troubled to see that there was an established pattern of behaviour,” they add. “Council determined that these actions were more than a clerical oversight and that the agent omitted the information intentionally.”
Had Martinson been licensed at the time of its decision, the council says it would have exercised its right to revoke her certificates of authority. “The council orders the maximum civil penalty $5,000 be levied against the agent for her gross misconduct.”
