INSURANCE

Allstate Settles Coverage Denial Claim: Allstate Life Insurance Co. paid a $125,000 fine to settle charges it unfairly denied coverage to an individual who wanted an unrelated person to be a policy beneficiary, the Department of Insurance announced. Department spokesman Bill Schulz said the settlement was the first under a 1990 state law allowing policyholders to name whomever they please to be a life insurance beneficiary. He said the fine is one of the 10 biggest ever levied by the department.