By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
A Lewis County, Washington judge is expected to issue a ruling this month in a case involving the Armed Citizen Legal Defense Network, a membership organization that offers legal support in the event of a self-defense incident which the Washington State Insurance Commission considers to be a form of insurance.
On May 13, a hearing was held before Lewis County Superior Court Judge James Lawler. He withheld a ruling at that time.
ACLDN founder and President Marty Hayes is contesting the allegation that ACLDN is selling insurance. The group has members across the country, but since March 2020, they have not been accepting new memberships from Washington residents. That was when ACLDN was advised to “cease and desist” in the Evergreen State.
We spoke with Hayes following a court hearing May 13.
“They called us insurance,” Hayes said. “We don’t believe that is true. Technically we could have kept selling, but out of an abundance of caution, we decided to go ahead and cease the sale of new memberships until we had a ruling by a court telling us what we can and can’t do.”
In March of 2020, as the nation was reeling from the beginnings of the spread of the COVID 19 virus, the Washington state insurance commission sent an email followed up by a cease and desist letter to Hayes claiming that ACLDN was illegally selling insurance in the state of Washington.
“This was approximately ten months after they sent us a letter saying that they were initiating an investigation into the claim that we were selling insurance without a license,” he recalled.
Investigations were also held on NRA’s Carry Guard, U.S. Concealed Carry Association, U.S. Law Shield, CCW Safe, and others.
“During that time, we reached out to them, we explained what our position was, and why we don’t consider ourselves insurance and ask ‘please leave us alone,’ but that didn’t do any good,” Hayes recalled.
While being denied the ability to provide new memberships to residents of the Evergreen State, ACLDN was able to renew memberships of those who were already members.
The appeal process within the Washington State Insurance Commission took over a year and resulted in ACLDN still being denied the ability to sell memberships within Washington state. At that point, they were able to pursue a remedy in court, Hayes said. That process took another year before the organization was able to get a hearing before Judge Lawler.
According to Hayes, in the two years since the cease and desist letter from the state arrived, NRA Carry Guard has ceased to exist. USCCA agreed with the insurance commissioner and paid a $100,000 fine and stopped selling in Washington state. U.S. Law Shield also agreed to stopped selling in Washington State. They then added language to their insurance policy that said they had the right to recoup any funds if the individual involved was found guilty or pleaded to a lesser crime.
“And so now, based on that language, the office of the commissioner approved the sale of U.S. Law Shield insurance in Washington State,” Hayes said.
Judge Lawler advised that he would issue a written ruling at a later time and, since he had a trial scheduled for the following week, to not expect the decision that week. Still, Hayes expects the decision to come down this month and stated that should the case not go in ACLDN’s favor, there are still routes of appeal within the Washington state court system.
