(1) Any person aggrieved by any rate charged, rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule followed or adopted by an insurer, and any person aggrieved by any rating plan, rating system, or underwriting rule followed or adopted by a rating organization, may herself or himself or by her or his authorized representative make written request of the insurer or rating organization to review the manner in which the rate, plan, system, or rule has been applied with respect to insurance afforded her or him. If the request is not granted within 30 days after it is made, the requester may treat it as rejected. Any person aggrieved by the refusal of an insurer or rating organization to grant the review requested, or by the failure or refusal to grant all or part of the relief requested, may file a written complaint with the office, specifying the grounds relied upon. If the office has already disposed of the issue as raised by a similar complaint or believes that probable cause for the complaint does not exist or that the complaint is not made in good faith, it shall so notify the complainant. Otherwise, and if it also finds that the complaint charges a violation of this chapter and that the complainant would be aggrieved if the violation is proven, it shall proceed as provided in subsection (2).
(2) If after examination of an insurer, rating organization, advisory organization, or group, association, or other organization of insurers which engages in joint underwriting or joint reinsurance, upon the basis of other information, or upon sufficient complaint as provided in subsection (1), the office has good cause to believe that such insurer, organization, group, or association, or any rate, rating plan, or rating system made or used by any such insurer or rating organization, does not comply with the requirements and standards of this part applicable to it, it shall, unless it has good cause to believe such noncompliance is willful, give notice in writing to such insurer, organization, group, or association stating therein in what manner and to what extent noncompliance is alleged to exist and specifying therein a reasonable time, not less than 10 days thereafter, in which the noncompliance may be corrected, including any premium adjustment.
(3) If the office has good cause to believe that such noncompliance is willful or if, within the period prescribed by the office in the notice required by subsection (2), the insurer, organization, group, or association does not make such changes as may be necessary to correct the noncompliance specified by the office or establish to the satisfaction of the office that such specified noncompliance does not exist, then the office is required to proceed to further determine the matter. If no notice has been given as provided in subsection (2), the notice shall state in what manner and to what extent noncompliance is alleged to exist. The proceedings shall not consider any subject not specified in the notice required by subsections (2) and (3).
History.—s. 447, ch. 59-205; s. 20, ch. 67-9; ss. 13, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 3, ch. 76-168; s. 1, ch. 77-457; s. 21, ch. 78-95; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 355, 357, 809(2nd), ch. 82-243; ss. 49, 79, ch. 82-386; s. 114, ch. 92-318; s. 5, ch. 93-289; s. 322, ch. 97-102; s. 1109, ch. 2003-261.