Title 22, Business Regulation

An insurer authorized to do business in Guam may only write classes of insurance authorized by this article and by the insurer's certificate of authority. SOURCE: GC § 43300.

Fire insurance includes insurance upon buildings and other property against loss or damage by fire, lightning, windstorms, cyclones, tornadoes, typhoons, hail or earthquakes, water from the breakage or leakage of sprinklers, pumps, or other apparatus erected for extinguishing fir…

Marine insurance includes insurance upon ocean and inland risks, and transportation, but not including any other casualty insurance as hereinafter provided. SOURCE: GC § 43302.

Life insurance includes insurance in all forms of life, endowments and annuities, but does not include health, accident or sickness insurance or any other casualty insurance as hereinafter provided. SOURCE: GC § 43303.

Organization, Property Damage and Liability Insurance. (a) Accident insurance and sickness or health insurance includes insurance against injury, disablement resulting from sickness, and every insurance appertaining thereto. Property damage insurance includes all types of insuran…

Fidelity and surety insurance includes all guaranteeing of persons holding places of public trust, and of the performance of contracts other than insurance policies. It also includes the execution of all bonds, undertakings and contracts of suretyship. SOURCE: GC § 43305.

Motor vehicle insurance includes all insurance on motor or power driven vehicles, except those operating on water or on rails, against loss or damage to or loss of use of the vehicle or its tools, appliances or equipment, against legal liability for loss or damage to persons or p…

Title insurance includes insurance or guaranty of title to real or personal property or any interest or encumbrance thereon, or of information relative to real property, against loss by reason of defective titles, encumbrances, or adverse claims of title, or otherwise. SOURCE: GC…

Worker's compensation insurance includes insurance against loss from liability imposed by law upon employers to compensate employees and their dependents for injury sustained by employees arising out of and in the course or scope of their employment. SOURCE: GC § 43308.

Miscellaneous insurance includes insurance upon any risk not included within or under any of the foregoing classes and which is a proper subject for insurance, not prohibited by law or contrary to sound public policy. SOURCE: GC § 43309. ---------- ARTICLE 2 PARTIES, EVENTS AND I…

For the purposes of this Chapter: (a) Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) means one (1) of the three (3) following disorders as defined in the most recent edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders of the American Psychiatric Association: (1) Autistic disorde…

(a) Except for those offered by a fraternal benefit society, every health care insurance service or health maintenance organization plan contract that provides hospital, medical, or surgical coverage shall also provide coverage for behavioral health treatment for autism spectrum …

Autism Spectrum Disorder; Coverage; Exceptions. (a) Except for those offered by a fraternal benefit society, health care insurance service plans issued by a health insurance carrier, hospital service corporation, medical service corporation, insurance company, health maintenance …

Any person capable of making a contract may be an insurer, subject to the restrictions imposed by this Title. SOURCE: GC § 43325.

Any person except a public enemy may be insured or may be a beneficiary. SOURCE: GC § 43326.

Except as provided in this article, any contingent or unknown event, whether past or future, which may damnify a person having an insurable interest, or create a liability against him, may be insured against, subject to the provisions of this Title. SOURCE: GC § 43327.

(a) Every interest in property, or any relation thereto, or any liability in respect thereto, of such a nature that a contemplated peril might directly damnify the insured, is an insurable interest. A mere contingent or expectant interest in anything, not founded upon an actual r…

Except in the case of property held by the insured as a carrier or depository, the measure of an insurable interest in property is the extent to which the insured might be damnified by loss of, or injury to, the property. SOURCE: GC § 43329.

A carrier or depository of any kind has an insurable interest in a thing held by him as such to the extent of its value. SOURCE: GC § 43330.

An interest in property insured must exist when the insurance takes effect and when the loss occurs but need not exist in the meantime; an interest in the life or health of a person insured must exist when the insurance takes effect but need not exist thereafter or when the loss …

Except in the cases herein specified, and in the cases of life and disability insurance, a change of interest in any part of a subject insured, unaccompanied by a corresponding change of interest in the insurance, suspends the insurance to an equivalent extent until the interest …

The mere transfer of subject matter insured does not transfer the insurance, but suspends it until the same person become the owner of both the insurance and the subject matter insured. SOURCE: GC § 43333. ---------- ARTICLE 3 THE POLICY

The written instrument in which a contract of insurance is set forth is the policy and it shall contain the information required herein: (a) The parties between whom the contract is made; (b) A description of the property, life or interest insured; (c) The interest of the insured…

All policies issued on risks in Guam shall be signed and subscribed as provided in this section: (a) If the insurer is an admitted domestic insurer, each policy shall be signed and subscribed by two (2) of the major officers of the insurer designated in its articles of incorporat…

When the name of the person intended to be insured is specified in a policy, it can be applied only to his own interest. SOURCE: GC § 43352.

A policy may be so framed that it will inure to the benefit of whosoever, during the continuance of the risk, becomes the owner of the interest insured. SOURCE: GC § 43353.

On any policy of liability insurance the injured person or his heirs or representatives shall have a right of direct action against the insurer within the terms and limits of the policy, whether or not the policy of insurance sued upon was written or delivered in Guam, and whethe…

No policy of liability insurance shall be issued or delivered in Guam, unless it contains provisions to the effect that the insolvency or bankruptcy of the insured shall not release the insurer from the payment of damages for injuries sustained or loss occasioned during the term …

A policy is either: (a) An open policy which is one wherein the value of the subject matter is not agreed upon but is left to be ascertained in case of loss. An open policy shall not be written on real property for fire insurance or miscellaneous insurance. (b) A valued policy wh…

It shall be unlawful for an insurer to use a policy form in affecting insurance except health insurance as approved pursuant to § 18308.1 without first obtaining the Commissioner's approval thereof as provided herein: (a) The Commissioner shall study each form for the purpose of …

Where a policy contains a coinsurance clause, the insurer shall notify the policy-holder of its existence, such notification to include the following information: (a) The name of the Insured; (b) The policy number of the policy and the effective date thereof; (c) The following no…

Notification of the coinsurance clause, as required by § 18309, shall be made in the manner and at such intervals in time as shall be prescribed by the Commissioner of Banking and Insurance. SOURCE: GC § 43359. Added by P.L. 14-71:1. 2011 NOTE: Reference to the “Insurance Commiss…

Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00) if the person convicted is not a natural person, or if the person convicted is a natural…

The insurer is entitled to payment of the premium as soon as the subject matter insured is exposed to the peril insured against. SOURCE: GC § 43375.

Unless the insurance contract otherwise provides, a person insured is entitled to a return of premium after a policy is cancelled or rescinded as provided herein: (a) To the whole premium if no part of his interest in the thing insured is exposed to any of the perils insured agai…

An acknowledgment in a policy of receipt of the premium is conclusive evidence of its payment, so far as to make the policy binding, notwithstanding any stipulation in the policy that it shall not be binding until the premium is actually paid. SOURCE: GC § 43377. ---------- ARTIC…

(a) All rates, rate schedules, rate plans and methods of computing rates to be applied to any insurance transacted in Guam shall be filed with the office of the Commissioner, and before any rates may be charged, advertised, publicized, or otherwise represented, they shall have th…

An insurer in making rates, and the Commissioner in approving them, shall apply the standards prescribed in this section: (a) Rates shall not be excessive or inadequate, as herein provided, nor shall they be unfairly discriminatory. (b) No rate shall be held excessive unless such…

Insurers are authorized to become members or subscribers of rating bureaus, or advisory organizations of a like nature and may use the rates, rating systems, and underwriting rules and policy forms of such organizations, provided the same are not excessive, inadequate, nor unfair…

Any person who is found violating any provision of this Article shall pay a fine of not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00). SOURCE: GC § 43388. Repealed by P.L. 13-187:219. Added by P.L. 27-002:V:I:99 (May 18, 2007). ---------- ARTICLE 6 LOSS

An insurer is liable: (a) Where the thing insured is rescued from a peril insured against and which would otherwise have caused a loss if in the course of such rescue, the thing is exposed to a peril not insured against, and which permanently deprives the insured of its possessio…

An insurer is not liable for a loss caused by the wilful act of the insured; but he is not exonerated by the negligence of the insured or of the insured's agents or others. SOURCE: GC § 43401.

Failure to give notice of loss covered by marine or fire insurance within any period provided for by the policy or otherwise, shall not exonerate the insurer if the notice is given within a reasonable time after the insured loss has or should have first knowledge of said loss. In…

When preliminary proof of loss is required by a policy, the insured is not bound to give such proof as would be necessary in a court of justice, but it is sufficient for him to give the best evidence in his power at the time. SOURCE: GC § 43403.

All defects in a notice of loss, or in preliminary proof thereof, which the insured might remedy, and which the insurer omits to specify to him, without unnecessary delay, as grounds of objection, are waived. SOURCE: GC § 43404.

Delay in the presentation to an insurer of notice, or preliminary proof of loss, is waived if caused by an act of the insurer, or if he omits to make objection promptly and specifically upon that ground. SOURCE: GC § 43405.