ALJDEC decisions subject to certification as final

19A-119-INS · Department of Insurance · 2020-09-11

IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

In the Matter of:

TOLEDO, Joanna Melissa

National Producer No. 17113420,

Respondent.

No. 19A-119-INS

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE DECISION

HEARING: August 18, 2020.

APPEARANCES: Assistant Attorney General Lynette Evans represented the Arizona Department of Insurance (Department). Respondent Joanna Melissa Toledo failed to appear.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Kay Abramsohn

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FINDINGS OF FACT

At all times relevant, Respondent was licensed by the Department as an Arizona resident insurance provider with line of authority in Personal Lines Insurance, under National Producer Number 17113420. See Exhibit 1. Respondent’s license was issued in November of 2013; the current licensing is set to expire on February 28, 2021.

Respondent’s addresses with the Department are as follows: 2206 N. 24th Street, Phoenix, Arizona 85008 (business and mailing) and [email redacted] (business e-mail).

By letter dated May 25, 20107, Chris Reetz from Allstate Insurance Company notified the Department that Respondent had been terminated from its companies for cause, indicating the cause to be “falsification.” See Exhibit 2.

At that time, Respondent had been employed by Allstate Agent Anna Vargas.

In December of 2017, Armando Macias purchased the Allstate book of business from Ms. Vargas.

On April 16, 2019, Heather C. Hummer sent an e-mail to the Department regarding possible fraud by Respondent. See Exhibit 3. Ms. Hummer indicated that she had been told Ms. Vargas “was made to give up her agency” and that Respondent was not allowed to work for Allstate. Ms. Hummer noted that Respondent had been working for Mr. Macias under another licensee’s name and license, that of “Patricia Alvarez (NPN: 17151277).”

On May 7, 2019, the Department issued a subpoena to Respondent, at the business address and residence address contained in departmental records, for Respondent ordering her to appear on May 23, 2019 and to produce certain specified records. See Exhibit 4. The certified mailing sent to Respondent’s residence address was returned to the Department, with the postal service indicating that delivery had been attempted and that it was unable to forward the mailing. See Exhibit 5. The certified mailing sent to Respondent’s business address was signed for at that address.

Respondent failed to appear at the Department.

On June 11, 2019, Allstate provided records to the Department that document over 20 policies that had been sold to customers by “Patricia Alvarez-Rodriguez” (i.e., by Respondent) between December 2018 and April 2019. See Exhibit 6.

On July 23, 2019, The Department’s Investigator Jeffrey Eavenson conducted an “examination under oath” (EUO) interview with Mr. Macias. See Exhibit 7. Mr. Macias only knew Respondent by the name of Patricia Alvarez-Rodriguez and not by the name of Joanne Toledo; Respondent was “working” there when he purchased the business. Mr. Macias told Mr. Eavenson that when he contacted Respondent about this matter, she had admitted to him that she had taken on the name of Patricia Alvarez-Rodriguez “in order to continue working.”

On July 6, 2020, the Department noticed an administrative hearing in this matter, sending a copy to Respondent at the residence and business addresses contained in the Department’s records and by email.

Respondent failed to appear at the date and time of the noticed hearing.

At the hearing, the Department requested that Respondent’s license be revoked based on Respondent’s failure to respond to the Department’s subpoena and failure to participate in the investigation. The Department’s position is that such failures are an indication that she cannot be regulated.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

This matter lies within the Department’s jurisdiction.

The Department bears the burden of proof to establish cause to discipline Respondent’s bail bond agent’s license by a preponderance of the evidence.

“A preponderance of the evidence is such proof as convinces the trier of fact that the contention is more probably true than not.”

The Department established that Respondent’s fraudulent and dishonest conduct practices in utilizing/assuming the name of another licenses and forging the name of that licensee in the course of engaging in the insurance business, as described above, constituted violations of the applicable statues and rules, and orders/subpoenas of the Director, within the meaning of A.R.S. § 20-295(A)(2), (A)(8) and (A)(10).

The Department established that Respondent’s conduct, as described above, demonstrates failure to inform the Department of any change in residential, mailing, business, and e-mail addresses.

Respondent’s conduct, as described above, provides grounds for the Director of the Department to suspend or revoke the license and to impose a civil penalty and/or order restitution, pursuant to A.R.S. § 20-295(A) and (F).

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Based on the foregoing, it is recommended that the Director revoke Respondent Joanna Melissa Toledo’s National Producer License No. 17113420.

In the event of certification of the Administrative Law Judge Decision by the Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings, the effective date of the Order will be five days from the date of that certification.

Done this day, September 11, 2020.

/s/ Kay Abramsohn

Administrative Law Judge

Transmitted electronically to:

Christina Corieri, Interim Director

Arizona Department of Insurance

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