Maryland’s insurance regulator has announced actions to settle a long-running dispute with Erie Insurance Group over a report on the insurer’s practices involving some urban agents and their insureds.
The Maryland Insurance Administration said its market conduct examination that was actually conducted four years ago uncovered unlawful practices resulting in fewer Erie policies written and renewed in urban ZIP codes, particularly in Baltimore City.
The insurer continues to strongly object to the report and says claims that it unfairly discriminates “couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The examination of conduct from 2016 to 2020 found that Pennsylvania-based Erie encouraged insurance agents affiliated with its companies to engage in a practice they called “front line underwriting,” in which the agents were encouraged to reject otherwi