Judge grants continuance to Tennessee GOP official Kelsey Ketron

Correction: Judge Phillip Hilliard only granted a continuance in this case, but did not issue a judgment for damages. 

NASHVILLE — A judge has granted a continuance to Kelsey Ketron, a Tennessee Republican Party official accused of defrauding a Shelbyville homeowner whose home was damaged last year due to a broken pipe.

A Tennessee Commission of Commerce and Insurance issued a cease and decease order that banned Ketron from serving as an unlicensed insurance agent and accused her of committing "fraudulent" insurance agent practices to cause a homeowner to lose claims coverage.

The state order focuses on Ketron's work as an agent serving Susan Calvin an insurance policy for a home in Shelbyville. Calvin said she thought her home was insured in 2018 but learned the policy she purchased in 2015 from Ketron's Universal International Insurance agency was no longer valid.

Ketron appeared before Judge Phillip Hilliard Wednesday morning. A continuance has been granted in the case, with another hearing to be scheduled at a later time.

The agency also faces a breach of contract lawsuit from Calvin and her husband because they were unable to file a claim to cover $127,230 in damages from a frozen pipe that burst in January 2018.

The order accused Ketron of intentionally providing "incorrect insurance information to a consumer's bank for the sole purpose of personal financial gain, effectively canceled the consumer's homeowners insurance policy without the consumer's authorization."

The order further accused her of lying "to the consumer about the existence of the homeowners insurance policy."

Ketron had been a licensed insurance agent from Feb. 16, 2012, through Aug. 31, 2016, but her involvement with the Calvins as an unlicensed insurance representative continued in 2017 and 2018, according to the state order.

Insurance companies and providers are required to be licensed by the state in order to conduct business, said Kevin Walters, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance.

The Murfreesboro Police Department also has investigated the fraud accusations and cannot comment at this time, spokesman Larry Flowers confirmed. 

Ketron won election August 2018 on a Rutherford County ballot to serve on the Tennessee Republican Party Executive Committee as a representative for District 13. That's the district her father, Bill Ketron, represented as a state senator before becoming Rutherford County mayor in August 2018.

What case is about: Tennessee GOP official Kelsey Ketron accused of 'fraudulent' practices, ordered to stop selling insurance

Ketron gives up senate seat: Rutherford County Mayor-elect Bill Ketron will resign from Tennessee Senate on Friday

GOP choose Ketron to be nominee: Bill Ketron captures Republican primary for Rutherford County mayor's race

What should the government do to regulate the insurance industry? Reach Scott Broden at sbroden.com or 615-278-5158, and follow him on Twitter .

Source: Dnj.com

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