Chapter 33, Chapter 33

The following acts by a risk retention group are hereby prohibited: (1) The solicitation or sale of insurance by a risk retention group to any person who is not eligible for membership in such group; and (2) The solicitation or sale of insurance by, or operation of, a risk retent…

No risk retention group shall be allowed to do business in this state if an insurance company is directly or indirectly a member or owner of such risk retention group, other than in the case of a risk retention group all of whose members are insurance companies.

No risk retention group may offer insurance policy coverage prohibited by chapter thirty-three of this code or ruled unlawful by the highest court of this state.

A risk retention group not chartered in this state and doing business in this state must comply with a lawful order issued in a voluntary dissolution proceeding or in a delinquency proceeding commenced by a state Insurance Commissioner if there has been a finding of financial imp…

(a) A risk retention group shall not be permitted to join or contribute financially to any insurance insolvency guaranty fund, or similar mechanism, in this state, nor shall any risk retention group, or its insureds, or claimants against its insureds, receive any benefit from any…

A policy of insurance issued to a risk retention group or any member of that group shall not be required to be countersigned.

A purchasing group and its insurer or insurers shall be subject to all applicable laws of this state, except that a purchasing group and its insurer or insurers shall be exempt, in regard to liability insurance for the purchasing group, from any law that would: (1) Prohibit the e…

(a) A purchasing group which intends to do business in this state shall, prior to doing business, furnish notice to the commissioner, on forms prescribed by the national association of Insurance Commissioners, which such forms shall: (1) Identify the state in which the group is d…

(a) A purchasing group may not purchase insurance from a risk retention group that is not chartered in a state or from an insurer not admitted in the state in which the purchasing group is located, unless the purchase is effected through a licensed agent or broker acting pursuant…

The commissioner is authorized to make use of any of the powers established under this chapter of this code to enforce the laws of this state so long as those powers are not specifically preempted by the national product liability risk retention act of 1981, as amended by the ris…

As used in this article, the term: (a) "Commissioner" means the Insurance Commissioner of the State of West Virginia or the commissioner, director or superintendent of insurance in any other state. (b) "Completed operations liability" means liability arising out of the installati…

A risk retention group which violates any provision of this Act will be subject to fines and penalties applicable to licensed insurers generally, including revocation of its license and/or the right to do business in this state.

(a) A person, or a person working for a firm, association or corporation, shall not act or aid in any manner in soliciting, negotiating or procuring liability insurance in this state from a risk retention group unless such person, or person working for a firm, association or corp…

An order issued by any district court of the United States enjoining a risk retention group from soliciting or selling insurance, or operating, in any state (or in all states or in any territory or possession of the United States) upon a finding that such a group is in a hazardou…

The commissioner may establish and from time to time amend such rules relating to risk retention groups as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of this article.

(a) In addition to complying with the requirements of this article, any risk retention group operating in this state prior to enactment of the amendments made to this article in the 1992 regular session of the Legislature shall comply with the provisions of subsection (a), sectio…

(a) A risk retention group shall, pursuant to the provisions of article five of this chapter, be chartered and licensed to write only liability insurance pursuant to this article and, except as provided elsewhere in this article, shall comply with all of the laws, rules and requi…

(a) Risk retention groups chartered in states other than this state and seeking to do business as a risk retention group in this state must observe and abide by the laws of this state. (b) Before offering insurance in this state, a risk retention group shall submit the following …

(a) Each risk retention group shall pay to the commissioner, annually on March 1, a tax at the rate of two percent of the taxable premiums on policies or contracts of insurance covering property or risks in this state and on risk and property situated elsewhere upon which no prem…

Any risk retention group, its agents and representatives, shall comply with the laws of this state, as set forth in chapter thirty-three of this code, regarding unfair claims settlement practices act of this state.

Any risk retention group shall comply with the laws of this state, as provided in chapter thirty-three of this code, regarding prohibitive, deceptive, false or fraudulent acts or practices. However, if the commissioner seeks an injunction regarding such conduct, the injunction mu…

Any risk retention group must submit to an examination by the commissioner to determine its financial condition if the commissioner of the jurisdiction in which the group is chartered has not initiated an examination or does not initiate an examination within sixty days after a r…

Every application form for insurance from a risk retention group and any policy issued by a risk retention group shall contain in ten-point type on the front page and the declaration page, the following notice: NOTICE This policy is issued by your risk retention group. Your risk …

(a) The purpose of this article is to improve the Insurance Commissioner's surveillance of the financial condition of insurers by requiring: (1) An annual audit of financial statements reporting the financial position and the results of operations of insurers by independent certi…

(a) In addition to the annual audited financial report, each insurer shall furnish the commissioner with a written communication as to any unremediated material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting noted by the accountant during the audit. Such communicatio…

The accountant shall furnish the insurer in connection with, and for inclusion in, the filing of the annual audited financial report, a letter stating: (1) That the accountant is independent with respect to the insurer and conforms to the standards of his or her profession as con…

(a) Workpapers are the records kept by the independent certified public accountant of the procedures followed, the tests performed, the information obtained, and the conclusions reached pertinent to the accountant's audit of the financial statements of an insurer. Workpapers may …

This section does not apply to foreign or alien insurers licensed in this state or an insurer that is a SOX Compliant Entity or a direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of a SOX Compliant Entity. (1) The audit committee is directly responsible for the appointment, compensatio…

(a) An insurer is exempt from the requirements of this section if: (1) The insurer has annual direct written and unaffiliated assumed premium, including international direct and assumed premium but excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Feder…

(a) No director or officer of an insurer shall, directly or indirectly: (1) Make or cause to be made a materially false or misleading statement to an accountant in connection with any audit, review or communication required under this article; or (2) Omit to state, or cause anoth…

(a) In the case of Canadian and British insurers, the annual audited financial report shall be defined as the annual statement of total business on the form filed by the companies with their supervision authority duly audited by an independent chartered accountant. (b) For Canadi…

(a) Every insurer required to file an audited financial report pursuant to this article that has annual direct written and assumed premiums, excluding premiums reinsured with the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and Federal Flood Program, of $500 million, or more, shall prepare…

(a) Upon written application of any insurer, the commissioner may grant an exemption from compliance with any and all provisions of this article if the commissioner finds, upon review of the application, that compliance with this article would constitute a financial or organizati…

As used in this article: (1) "Accountant" or "independent certified public accountant" means an independent certified public accountant or accounting firm in good standing with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and in all states in which the accountant is lic…

(a) All insurers shall have an annual audit by an independent certified public accountant and shall file an audited financial report with the commissioner on or before June 1 for the year ending December 31 immediately preceding. The commissioner may require an insurer to file an…

(a) The annual audited financial report shall report the financial condition of the insurer as of the end of the most recent calendar year and the results of its operations, cash flows and changes in capital and surplus for the year then ended in conformity with statutory account…

(a) Each insurer required by this article to file an annual audited financial report must, within sixty days after becoming subject to the requirements, register with the commissioner in writing the name and address of the independent certified public accountant or accounting fir…

(a) The commissioner may not recognize any person or firm as a qualified independent certified public accountant for purposes of performing the annual audited financial report if the person or firm: (1) Is not in good standing with the American Institute of Certified Public Accou…

An insurer may make written application to the commissioner for approval to file audited consolidated or combined financial statements in lieu of separate annual audited financial statements if the insurer is part of a group of insurance companies which utilizes a pooling or one …

Financial statements furnished pursuant to section four of this article shall be examined by the independent certified public accountant. The audit of the insurer's financial statements shall be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards. In accordance wit…

(a) The insurer required to furnish the annual audited financial report shall require the independent certified public accountant to report, in writing, within five business days to the board of directors or its audit committee any determination by the independent certified publi…

For the purposes of this article the following definitions shall apply: (a) "Insurer" means and includes every person engaged as indemnitor, surety or contractor in the business of entering into contracts of insurance or of annuities as limited to: Any insurer who is doing an ins…

There shall be no liability on the part of, and no cause of action of any nature shall arise against, the Insurance Commissioner or the division or its employees or agents thereof for any action taken by them in the performance of their powers and duties under this article.

The provisions of this article shall only apply to: (a) All domestic insurers; and (b) Any other insurer doing business in this state whose state of domicile has asked the commissioner to apply the provisions of this article as regards such insurer.

(a) An insurer may be subject to administrative supervision by the commissioner if upon examination or at any other time it appears in the commissioner's discretion that: (1) The insurer's condition renders the continuance of its business hazardous to the public, to its insureds …

(a) Standards. -- In making a determination pursuant to subdivision (1), subsection (a), section three of this chapter as to whether the continued operation of an insurer transacting an insurance business in this state might be deemed to be hazardous to the public, to its insured…

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as set forth in this section, proceedings, hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records and other information in the possession of the commissioner relating to the supervision of any insurer shall not be subject to …

An insurer may not engage in the following actions during the period of supervision, without the prior approval of the commissioner or his or her special deputy supervisor: (1) Dispose of, convey, or encumber any of its assets or its business in force; (2) Withdraw any of its ban…

Nothing contained in this article shall preclude the commissioner from initiating judicial proceedings to place an insurer in rehabilitation or liquidation proceedings or other delinquency proceedings, however designated under the laws of this state, regardless of whether the com…

The division is empowered to adopt reasonable rules pursuant to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code deemed necessary for the implementation of this article.