Ohio Insurance Department Suspends Broker’s License in School Contract

The Ohio Department of Insurance has suspended a broker’s license and fined him and his agency a total of $50,000 for his part in a deception that cost Columbus public schools $137,000, the department said Friday.

Kevin Grady, whose license was suspended for at least three years, also must pay the money back to the school district, Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin said in a statement.

Grady won a contract with the district to provide insurance consulting services for $32,000 to $35,000 a year from 2001 to 2004. At the same time, he was negotiating with an insurer, for which he was an appointed agent, for as much as $143,000 a year to get the schools’ business, the department said.

“Insurance agents are required by law to deal fairly and honestly with their clients, and this case Mr. Grady practiced deception from the beginning with Columbus Public Schools,” Womer Benjamin said.

Grady and his agency can appeal the department’s order in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. A message seeking comment was left for Grady by the Associated Press.