State Fines Pet Insurance Company for Violating Laws

OLYMPIA (AP) — Washington state's Insurance Commissioner has fined a pet insurance company $150,000 for violating state laws.

Commissioner Mike Kreidler says his agency issued fines in July against American Pet Insurance, which goes under the name Trupanion. It's based in New York.

Most of the violations were related to charging rates that the Insurance Commissioner did not approve, as required by law.

The violations include a failure to cancel policies in a timely manner after a pet's deaths, after a customer no longer owned a pet, and when the pet owner canceled a policy.

The agency suspended an additional $100,000 fine that American Pet Insurance must pay if it commits the same violations in two years or fails to develop a plan to fix the violations.