Investigations Yield Millions For Residents

Investigations by the Washington Attorney General and Insurance Commissioner returned more than $7 million to state residents in 1996, according to reports released Wednesday by the two offices.

Spokane County residents received about $309,000 of the total.

Statewide, the attorney general recovered a record $5.4 million as a result of 295,000 consumer complaints and inquiries handled under the Consumer Protection Act.

Slightly more than $236,000 was distributed to 1,314 Spokane County residents.

Another $73,039 was generated for county residents by the Insurance Commissioner’s Office, which recovered more than $2.13 million from insurance companies and agents.

Commissioner Deborah Senn said in one case an agent created a fictitious insurance company, then sold policies to an elderly woman and an Idaho priest. Her office recovered $12,000 in premiums, she said.

About $100,000 was returned by another agent who worked in Spokane and surrounding Eastern Washington counties, she said.

Senn said the sums reported so far do not include amounts that might be received from claims consumers can file against Prudential Insurance Co. of America up to June 1. , DataTimes