Washington's insurance commissioner, Mike Kreidler, has fined United States Concealed Carry Association, Inc., ("USCCA") $100,000 after finding that it violated Washington state laws by selling unauthorized insurance that illegally covers defense costs for criminal shootings.
"We made two things very clear to USCCA," Commissioner Kreidler said. "Insurers must be authorized to sell in our state, and policies can't cover illegal activity. These law violations are fixable, if the company wishes to do business in Washington state."
USCCA agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and $5,457 in unpaid premium taxes, penalties, and interest and to continue not selling the insurance in Washington state.
Commissioner Kreidler said that USCCA sold insurance to 1,675 Washington state consumers from December 1, 2018 through January 30, 2019, collecting $241,000. USCCA has paid no claims in Washington state, according to the commissioner.
USCCA bundled the insurance product, called a protection plan, with membership in its association. The protection plan provides payments for criminal defense costs if a member is charged with a crime related to the intentional use of a firearm or other weapon. Washington state law does not allow a person to buy insurance for his or her own intentional criminal activity.
Additionally, according to the commissioner, USCCA was illegally acting as an insurer. Insurance companies must be authorized to sell policies in Washington state, and their policies must be reviewed and approved by the commissioner's office.
USCCA voluntarily stopped selling membership and the protection plan in Washington on January 30, 2019.
The protection plan stated that it excluded coverage for "criminal acts" and only covered "acts of self-defense." However, according to Commissioner Kreidler, the policies had no mechanism to make sure that payments made to policyholders who were later convicted of a crime were repaid to the insurer.
In January 2019, the commissioner fined one insurer and one insurance agency $177,000 for selling 811 similar illegal liability policies in Washington state under the National Rifle Association's Carry Guard program.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].