AG files suit against Peabody’s Kilgore Insurance

PEABODY – A Peabody-based insurance agency is again under fire with the law and will be unable to charge any direct charges to its customers or transfer any funds during its impending lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s office.Kilgore Insurance Agency of Peabody and its owners and agents will be prohibited from charging any direct additional charges on insurance sales under an order by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office, it was announced on Monday.The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, alleges that Kilgore Insurance, agents Andrew Crowther and Kathleen Burke and owners Cyrus and Jeffrey Kilgore charged their clients, mostly small or family-owned businesses, millions of dollars in concealed agency fees.The lawsuit alleges the agency hid fees by forging client signatures and altering insurance policies and other insurance documents. Additionally, it alleges the agency charged undisclosed fees that were often 50 percent to 100 percent of the actual premiums charged by insurance companies instead of normal agent commissions on such policies, which are approximately 10 percent. The company reportedly made almost $3.4 million on overcharging insurance premiums.”The defendants would bury exorbitant agency fees in the ‘premium’ amount presented to clients – and would then erase the true premium figure on insurance policies and other documents and type in their inflated ‘premium,’ prior to providing these documents to clients,” a press release said. “Moreover, the defendants allegedly forged client signatures on documents that would reveal the true premium, thus keeping such documents out of the hands of their unsuspecting clients.”The agency’s owners and its employees will not be allowed to accept or charge any agency fees directly, sign documents for customers without the advanced written consent of the customer, alter any aspect of an insurance document or make any misleading statements to customers.The lawsuit is seeking recovery of all undisclosed agency fees, civil penalties and attorney’s fees and costs, plus interest. The Attorney General’s Office is also seeking to permanently prohibit the owners and agents of Kilgore Insurance from being able to work in the insurance brokerage business in the future.