Title 27

(a) A producer who violates this chapter may be subject to the suspension or revocation of any insurance license held by the producer or civil penalties of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) per violation, or both. Suspension or revocation of an insurance license or certificate…

Whenever it appears to the commissioner that any person has engaged in or is about to engage in any act or practice constituting a violation of any provision of this chapter or any rule or order hereunder, the commissioner may, in the commissioner’s discretion, do either or both …

(a) A fraud warning shall be included on at least one of the following: Claim release forms, applications, reinstatements for insurance, participation agreements, declaration pages, and claim documents, regardless of the method or form of transmission and shall contain the follow…

(a) Persons engaged in the business of insurance, having knowledge or a reasonable belief that insurance fraud is being, will be, or has been committed, shall provide to the department such information that is required by, and in a manner prescribed by, the department. As used in…

(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (b), there shall be no civil liability imposed on and no cause of action shall arise against a person for furnishing or receiving information concerning suspected, anticipated, or completed insurance fraud. This shall not abrogate or…

(a) Documents and evidence provided pursuant to Section 27-12A-21 or obtained by the department in an investigation of suspected or actual insurance fraud shall be privileged and confidential, shall not be a public record, and shall not be subject to discovery or subpoena in a ci…

This chapter shall not be construed to do any of the following: (1) Preempt the authority or relieve other law enforcement or regulatory agencies of the duty to investigate, examine, and prosecute suspected violations of law. (2) Prevent or prohibit a person from voluntarily disc…

(a) There is established within the department the Insurance Fraud Unit. The commissioner shall appoint the necessary full-time supervisory and investigative personnel of the unit who shall be qualified by training and experience to perform the duties of their positions. The comm…

(a) The commissioner shall assess each insurer authorized to write insurance in the State of Alabama two hundred dollars ($200) per year in order to fund the operations of the unit. (b) Assessments shall be due not less than 30 days after prior written notice to the insurer and s…

(a) There is created a fund in the State Treasury designated the Insurance Fraud Unit Fund. The expenses incurred by the department in operating the unit, including expenses incurred by the department for providing administrative personnel, legal counsel, litigation support, expe…

(a) The purpose of this chapter is to regulate trade practices in the business of insurance in accordance with the intent of congress as expressed in the Insurance Regulation Act by defining, or providing for the determination of, all such practices in this state which constitute…

(a) No person shall issue or deliver, or permit its agents, officers, or employees to issue or deliver, agency company stock or other capital stock, or benefit certificates or shares in any common-law corporation, or securities, or any special or advisory board contract or other …

(a) No person shall make or permit any unfair discrimination between individuals of the same class and equal expectation of life in the rates charged for any contract of life insurance or of life annuity, or in the dividends or other benefits payable thereon or in any other of th…

(a) No person shall knowingly permit or offer to make, or make, any contract of life insurance, annuity or disability insurance or agreement as to such contract other than as plainly expressed in the contract issued thereon, or pay or allow, or give or offer to pay, allow or give…

Nothing in Sections 27-12-11 and 27-12-12 shall be construed as including within the definition of discrimination, rebates, or special inducements any of the following practices: (1) In the case of any contract of life insurance or annuity, paying bonuses to policyholders or othe…

(a) No property, casualty, or surety insurer, or any employee thereof, and no broker, agent, or solicitor shall pay, allow, or give, or offer to pay, allow, or give, directly or indirectly, as an inducement to insurance or after insurance has been effected, any rebate, discount, …

No person, firm, or corporation engaged in selling real or personal property or of lending money on the security of real or personal property and no trustee, director, officer, agent, or other employee of any such person, firm, or corporation shall require, or attempt or purport …

(a) Any insurer may retain, invest in or acquire, the whole or any part of, the capital stock of any other insurer, or insurers, or have a common management with any other insurer, or insurers, unless such retention, investment, acquisition, or common management is inconsistent w…

(a) No person shall willfully collect any sum as premium or charge for insurance which insurance is not then provided or is not in due course to be provided, subject to acceptance of the risk by the insurer, by an insurance policy issued by an insurer as permitted by this title. …

(a) If the commissioner believes that any person has been engaged, or is engaging, in this state in any unfair method of competition or any unfair or deceptive act or practice expressly prohibited in this trade practices law and that a proceeding by him in respect thereto would b…

Statements of charges, notices, orders, and other processes of the commissioner under this trade practices law may be served by anyone duly authorized by the commissioner, either in the manner provided by law for service of process in civil actions or by registering or certifying…

No person shall engage in this state in any trade practice which is defined in this chapter as, or determined pursuant to this chapter to be, an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance. (Acts 1957, No. 608, p. 865, §3; A…

Any person required by an order of the commissioner under Section 27-12-18 to cease and desist from engaging in any unfair method of competition or any unfair or deceptive act or practice defined in this trade practices law may obtain a review of such order by filing an appeal th…

(a) Whenever the commissioner has reason to believe that any person engaged in the business of insurance is engaging in this state in any method of competition, or in any act or practice in the conduct of such business which is not defined in this trade practices law, that such m…

If the report of the commissioner under Section 27-12-21 does not charge a violation of this chapter, then any intervenor in the proceedings may, within 30 days after the service of such report, cause a notice of appeal to be filed in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County for a …

No agent, broker, solicitor, examining physician, or other person shall knowingly make a false or fraudulent statement or representation in, or relative to, an application for insurance. Violations of this section shall be punishable under Section 27-1-12. (Acts 1971, No. 407, p.…

No insurer shall, without just cause, refuse to pay or settle claims arising under coverages provided by its policies in this state and with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice in this state, which general business practice is evidenced by: (1) A substantial…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any health insurer, any health care service plan organized under Article 6, Chapter 20, Title 10A, or any health maintenance organization organized under Chapter 21A of this title, which contracts for health insurance or pays for he…

No person shall make or issue, or cause to be made or issued, any written or oral statement misrepresenting or making misleading incomplete comparisons as to the terms, conditions, or benefits contained in any policy for the purpose of inducing, or attempting or tending to induce…

(a) No person shall file with any supervisory or other public official or make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or deliver to any person or place before the public, or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, delivered to any person, or pla…

No person shall enter into any agreement to commit or, by any concerted action, commit any act of boycott, coercion, or intimidation resulting in, or tending to result in, unreasonable restraint of, or monopoly in, the business of insurance. (Acts 1957, No. 608, p. 865, §4; Acts …

No person shall make, publish, disseminate, or circulate, directly or indirectly, or aid, abet, or encourage the making, publishing, disseminating, or circulating of any oral or written statement or any pamphlet, circular, article, or literature which is false or maliciously crit…

The purpose of this chapter is to promote the public welfare by regulating insurance rates to the end that they shall not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory and to authorize and regulate cooperative action among insurers in rate-making and in other matters within…

The commissioner is charged with the duty of the administration of all laws now relating, or hereafter relating, to insurance rates and rating systems of all companies authorized to do business in the State of Alabama, with the exception of rates of life and health and accident b…

(a) The commissioner may require any regulated insurer engaged in any of the businesses in Alabama as enumerated in this chapter to file with the department any data or information required or necessary in the performance of the duties of the commissioner, the data or information…

The commissioner shall, from time to time, promulgate such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this article and, upon request, shall furnish to any interested party a copy of such rules and regulations. (Acts 1945, No. 118, p. 111, §6; Ac…

Any licenses collected from any rating organization by the commissioner shall be paid into the Treasury of the State of Alabama. (Acts 1945, No. 118, p. 111, §7; Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §256.)

This chapter may be referred to as “The Rating Law.” (Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §251.)

For the purposes of this article, unless otherwise stated, the following terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them by this section. (1) RATE. The unit charge by which the measure of exposure or the amount of insurance specified in a policy of insurance or covere…

(a) This article shall apply to insurance against loss to property located in this state, or to any valuable interest therein, by fire, lightning, windstorm, explosion, or by theft or physical damage to motor vehicles and all other kinds of insurance which fire insurance companie…

The provisions of this section shall apply to all insurance which is now or hereafter defined by statute, by ruling of the commissioner or by lawful custom as inland marine insurance, but this article shall not apply to insurance of vessels or craft, their cargoes, marine builder…

Nothing in this article shall apply to any town or county farmers’ mutual fire insurance association restricting their operations to not more than one county or to domestic insurance companies, associations, orders, or fraternal benefit societies now doing business in this state …

(a) No rating organization shall do business in this state unless it shall have been licensed to do so by the commissioner. Application for such license shall be made on such forms as the commissioner shall prepare for that purpose. Upon applying for such license, every rating or…

Every rating organization shall make reasonable provision in its bylaws, rules, constitution, or otherwise to permit any insurer engaged in the kind of insurance for which rate-making is done by such rating organization to become a member or subscriber thereof upon application th…

Every rating organization shall notify the department within 10 days upon the withdrawal or expulsion therefrom of any member or subscriber. Should a rating organization expel or otherwise exclude a subscriber for the refusal or failure of such subscriber to pay such rating organ…

Every rating organization and every insurer which makes its own rates shall make rates that are not unreasonably high or inadequate for the safety and soundness of the insurer and which do not unfairly discriminate between risks in this state involving essentially the same hazard…