ALJDEC decisions subject to certification as final

20A-072-INS · Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions - Insurance · 2021-05-06

IN THE OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

In the Matter of:

WATTS, DAVID SANTIAGO

(National Producer No. 18927111)

Respondent

No. 20A-072-INS

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE

DECISION

HEARING: April 20, 2021

APPEARANCES: No one appeared for Respondent; James Rolstead, Esq. for the Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGE: Thomas Shedden

FINDINGS OF FACT

On March 10, 2021, the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (“Department”) issued a Notice of Hearing setting the above-captioned matter for hearing at 1:00 p.m. on April 20, 2021 at the Office of Administrative Hearings.

Respondent David Santiago Watts did not appear at the scheduled hearing time and the matter was convened in his absence at about 1:15 p.m.

The Department presented the testimony of its senior investigator Jeff Eavenson.

Mr. Watts holds National Producer Number 18927111 issued by the Department, which is due to expire on November 30, 2021.

On November 25, 2019, the Department received from Royal Neighbors of America notice that as of November 13, 2019 it had terminated its agent contract with Mr. Watts. In its letter to the Department, Royal Neighbors noted that Mr. Watts was not terminated for cause.

Royal Neighbors reported that it had received from Mr. Watts nine applications for unrelated individuals all using the same banking information.

In response to an inquiry from Royal Neighbors, Mr. Watts wrote that the premiums were all being paid by a financial enrichment Ministry in which all applicants were members. Mr. Watts informed Royal Neighbors that he could not write the policies as a group plan and he asked Royal Neighbors to notify him if its request was for him to separate account payments by individual client.

Mr. Eavenson conducted an investigation for the Department.

The information from Royal Neighbors shows that Green Dot Bank was the bank from which the premiums were to be paid. Mr. Eavenson testified to the effect that Green Dot Bank is not a “brick and mortar” facility, but rather one that sells prepaid debit cards.

At least one of the policy accounts was set up using Mr. Watts’s email address.

Green Dot Bank provided the Department with information about the account, which did not show it was a ministry’s account.

Through a letter dated March 17, 2020, Mr. Eavenson requested that Mr. Watts provide information related to the matter. That letter was sent to Mr. Watts’s mailing address of record and to his email address of record.

Mr. Watts did not respond to the letter of March 17, 2020.

Through a letter dated October 19, 2020 sent by certified mail to Mr. Watts’s address of record, the Department issued a subpoena requiring him to appear at the Department’s office on November 12, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. The Department’s letter provided that Mr. Watts could appear virtually via the internet.

The Department’s letter and subpoena were returned by the United States Postal Service as undeliverable and unable to forward.

Mr. Watts did not appear at the Department’s office on November 12, 2020.

The Department requests that Mr. Watts’s license be revoked.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

The Department bears the burden of persuasion. Ariz. Rev. Stat. § 41-1092.07(G)(2).

The burden of proof at an administrative hearing falls to the party asserting a claim, right or entitlement. The standard of proof is that of the preponderance of the evidence. Ariz. Admin. Code § R2-19-119.

A preponderance of the evidence is:

The greater weight of the evidence, not necessarily established by the greater number of witnesses testifying to a fact but by evidence that has the most convincing force; superior evidentiary weight that, though not sufficient to free the mind wholly from all reasonable doubt, is still sufficient to incline a fair and impartial mind to one side of the issue rather than the other.

Black’s Law Dictionary 1373 (10th ed. 2014).

The preponderance of the evidence shows that Mr. Watts has violated Ariz. Rev. Stat. section 20-295(A)(2).

Because Mr. Watts has violated Ariz. Rev. Stat. section 20-295, the Department has authority to revoke his license.

Considering the facts and circumstances of this matter, particularly Mr. Watts’s failure to appear at the hearing, his license should be revoked.

RECOMMENDED ORDER

IT IS ORDERED that David Santiago Watts’s license number 18927111 is revoked.

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 the date of that certification.

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-137160-45720000Done this day, May 6, 2021.

/s/ Thomas Shedden

Thomas Shedden

Administrative Law Judge

Transmitted electronically to:

Evan G. Daniels,

Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions

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-137160-45720000