November 4, 2019

The Supreme Court of Oklahoma has ruled that Oklahoma law provides immunity for reporting or providing information regarding suspected insurance fraud as long as the reporter themselves does not act fraudulently, in bad faith, in reckless disregard for the truth or with actual malice in providing the information about the fraud. The case is Loven v. Church Mut. Ins. Co., 2019 OK 68.

Lisa Loven is a general contractor who applied for a public adjuster license with the Oklahoma Department of Insurance. During the application process she revealed that a former client had sued her for acting as an unlicensed adjuster, so the department opened an investigation into her application. The Department denied her application and she appealed that denial. During the appeal hearing Church Mutual Insurance and its adjuster Jeffrey Hanes both provided information about their dealings with Loven as a general contractor when she provided storm repair work for two churches they insured. After contracting with the church to perform the repairs, Loven quoted over $221,000 more than the insurer's initial estimate of loss. The church paid her for her work. A strikingly similar scenario occurred with the second church. The hearing examiner denied her application and state prosecutors charged Loven with felonies for filing a false claim for insurance and conspiracy to commit a felony. The charges were dismissed, and Loven sued Church Mutual alleging that Church Mutual and its adjuster had intentionally interfered with her attempts to get licensed as a public adjuster in direct retaliation for her actions that caused them to pay more in claims than it had offered to the two churches.