Culpeper insurance agent agrees to surrender license

Following a state investigation, a Culpeper insurance agent avoided fines and penalties when she agreed to surrender her license and sell her business.

Rita J. Griffin, former president and owner of First Choice Insurance Services Inc., had faced numerous violations, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission Board of Insurance.

The board had charged her with failure to remit, in a timely fashion, $13,753 in premiums. The money, collected from 74 customers in July and August 2006, was owed to several insurers and resulted in the cancellation of at least six policies.

First Choice, opened by Griffin in 2000, is located at 150 James Madison Highway in Broadview Plaza, across from Culpeper Town Square. Griffin, 45, is still working there, but she describes her title as customer service representative.

“I don’t give quotes,” Griffin said Tuesday.

Griffin, a Culpeper native, said she recently sold her business to John and Don Gantt of Gantt Insurance in Farmville.

“I’ve been doing this all of my life,” Griffin said, wiping away tears. “I’ve done lost everything.”

The violations
According to the investigation, Griffin also failed to properly handle funds resulting in negative balances of $2,767 and $1,805 in First Choice’s escrow account.

“As a result of these negative balances, a premium check sent to Alfa Insurance Co. was returned due to insufficient funds,” the report states. “Griffin failed to replace the funds until February 2007 despite numerous requests from the insurer.”

SCC regulators also accused Griffin of allowing an employee to sell insurance on behalf of the agency, even though she knew that person wasn’t properly licensed.

In August 2007, Griffin failed to timely remit to Deering & Associates $741 in premiums and other charges paid by a client.

“The customer did not discover that the policy had been canceled for nonpayment until after he filed a claim with the insurer in December 2007,” the SCC records states.

The investigation ended Sept. 19, 2008, when SCC regulators found sufficient evidence against Griffin.

According to state records, Griffin was given an Oct. 9 deadline to admit or deny each of the allegations.

When she failed to file a response in a timely matter, regulators declared a default judgment against Griffin and her company and “waived all objections to the admissibility of evidence.”

In December, Griffin requested more time to sell or close her agency, resulting in a March deadline, according to a recent article published in the Insurance & Financial Advisor.

First Choice Insurance Services Inc. was listed as delinquent on April 1, according to state records.

Griffin’s side
Griffin obtained her state license to sell property and casualty insurance in February 1993.

She said the troubles with her agency began around 2006 when her grandson, now 4, became sick and endured eight brain surgeries at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

“I missed a lot of time, but there was supposed to be competent, reliable people in here,” Griffin said. “I’m paying for it. My business is gone. I had to sell it.”

Griffin maintains her innocence but admits she had to take the fall for what happened.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. “But I owned it. It’s my company, so I’m responsible.”