The Hearings Unit for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner is delegated the authority by statute to conduct adjudicative hearings and make the final decisions in two large areas of cases.

First, pursuant to RCW 48.04.010, any act, threatened act or failure of the Commissioner to act can be appealed by any interested party. This involves cases, for example, where the Commissioner has imposed disciplinary measures on an insurance agent or insurance carrier, the Commissioner has disapproved a carrier's contract language, situations where a member of the public has asked the Commissioner to become involved in certain regulation and he has refused, and many other such types of situations.

The second type of cases heard by the Hearings Unit are those where a hearing is required by statute, such as where two carriers wish to merge, a carrier wishes to buy out other carrier(s), or a carrier wishes to change its home state from Washington to another state.

The hearings are legal proceedings conducted by an impartial judge who is an attorney. Both the judge and the hearing are subject to very strict statutory precautions which ensure fair and unbiased decisions in all cases. Each party has the right to appear and present arguments, witnesses and written evidence to support his or her position and to challenge the opposing party's evidence.

After the hearing, the judge must write the final decision to affirm, modify or set aside the original Commissioner's action or make other proper decisions involved in the case. The law (Title 34 RCW) strictly prohibits the judge from having any knowledge of the case or any private communication or input from the Commissioner, his staff or any other individual.

These final decisions can be appealed to Superior Court upon request.

What we do

Pursuant to RCW 48.04.010(1)(b), any act, threatened act or failure to act, of the Insurance Commissioner may be appealed by any interested party. Acts of the Commissioner which are commonly appealed are disciplinary actions which the Commissioner has taken against insurance companies and agents for alleged misconduct/violations of the Insurance Code (Title 48 RCW), and the Commissioner’s denials of approval of insurance contract filings by an insurance company. An example of a threatened act is where the Commissioner advises an insurance company or agent that he will take action against it if that entity fails to comply with certain requirement(s). An example of a failure of the Commissioner to act which can be appealed is when the Commissioner is asked to enforce a specific statute against an insurance company by a member of the public/health care provider and he chooses not to do so. In all of these situations, the interested party must file a Request for Hearing, which is received by an Administrative Law Judge in the Hearings Unit who, pursuant to the strict rules set forth in Title 34 RCW, must have no knowledge of the case and must have no communication with any individual who has any involvement or information about the case. That Administrative Law Judge handles the entire proceeding from the prehearing conference which involves talking to the interested party and the Commissioner’s representative together about the case and procedure, scheduling the hearing, presiding over the hearing and making the final decision in the case. The decision is not reviewable by the Commissioner or any entity except the Superior Court.

The Hearings Unit also handles, hears and decides cases which may not be contested by a party but where, by statute, a proposed transaction must be heard and decided by an impartial judge. Examples of these cases are an insurance company’s request for approval to merge with another insurance company, or request for approval to change its domicile from Washington to another state.

In all of these administrative proceedings, each party has the right to request the judge to subpoena witnesses to testify on his behalf, to present and question witnesses if called, to submit and/or challenge documents related to the case, to testify on his own behalf, to present his arguments in written and/or oral form, and other processes allowed in order to guarantee a fair and impartial hearing and decision in the matter. The result of the proceeding is a written decision, entered within 90 days after the end of the hearing, which can be 1) to uphold the original act/threatened act/refusal to act of the Commissioner (or approve or deny the insurance company’s request in e.g. merger hearings); 2) to modify the action of the Commissioner to e.g. impose a lesser penalty than the penalty which is sought to be imposed by the Commissioner in his action; or 3) to set aside the original act/threatened act/refusal to act of the Commissioner entirely. As above, the proceeding and decision are not subject to any input from the Commissioner or his staff or any individual involved in the case, and is only subject to review by the Superior Court if a party so requests.

Pursuant to RCW 48.04.020, the action of the Commissioner is automatically stayed upon filing a Request for Hearing if the filing is made before the effective date of the Commissioner’s action, and the stay remains in place until entry of the Administrative Law Judge’s final decision after hearing.

Contact information

Patricia D. Petersen, Chief Hearing Officer

Hearings Unit Paralegal
Email: Hearings@oic.wa.gov
Phone: 360-725-7002
Fax: 360-664-2782

Mailing address:
Hearings Unit
Office of the Insurance Commissioner
PO Box 40255
Olympia, WA 98504-0255

Street address:
Hearings Unit
Office of the Insurance Commissioner
5000 Capitol Blvd
Tumwater, WA 98502

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