A. The provisions of this section shall apply only to property and casualty insurance producers. All premiums belonging to insurers and all unearned premiums belonging to insureds received by an insurance producer licensee under this article shall be treated by the insurance producer licensee in a fiduciary capacity.
1. All premiums received less commissions, if authorized, shall be remitted by the insurance producer licensee to the insurer or its agent entitled thereto on or before the contractual due date or, if there is no contractual due date, within forty-five (45) days after receipt.
2. All returned premiums received from insurers or credited by insurers to the account of the insurance producer licensee shall be remitted to or credited to the account of the licensee entitled thereto within thirty (30) days after receipt or credit.
3. An insurer or its agent shall promptly report to the Commissioner in writing the failure of any insurance producer to account for any collected premium to the insurer entitled to the accounting or to the insurer’s agent entitled thereto for more than forty-five (45) days after the contractual due date or, if there is no contractual due date, more than ninety (90) days after receipt.
B. Every insurer shall remit unearned premiums to the insured or the proper agent or shall otherwise credit the account of the proper insurance producer licensee as soon as is practicable after entitlement thereto has been established but in no event more than forty-five (45) days after the effective date of any cancellation or termination effected by the insurer or after the date of entitlement thereto as established by notification of cancellation or of termination or as otherwise established. Any insurance producer licensee having knowledge of a failure on the part of any insurer to comply with this subsection shall promptly report such failure to the Commissioner in writing.
C. No insurance producer licensee under this article shall commingle premiums belonging to insurers and returned premiums belonging to insureds with the personal funds of the insurance producer licensee or with any other funds except those directly connected with the producer licensee’s insurance business.
D. Any insurer that delivers in this state a policy of insurance to an insurance producer licensee representing the interest of an insured upon the application or request of the insurance producer licensee shall be deemed to have authorized the producer to receive any premium due upon issuance or delivery of the policy on behalf of the insurer.
E. 1. An insurance producer licensee or surplus line producer convicted of knowingly misappropriating or knowingly converting to his or her own use or wrongfully withholding fiduciary moneys in the amount of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) or less is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail for a term not to exceed one year or by both such fine and imprisonment.
2. An insurance producer licensee or surplus line producer with a second or subsequent conviction for knowingly misappropriating or knowingly converting to his or her own use or wrongfully withholding fiduciary moneys in the amount of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) or less or who is convicted of knowingly misappropriating or knowingly converting to his or her own use or wrongfully withholding premiums in an amount in excess of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) is guilty of a felony punishable by a fine not to exceed Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections for a term not to exceed five (5) years or by both such fine and imprisonment.
F. The Commissioner may promulgate rules for the implementation of this section.
Added by Laws 2006, c. 264, § 48, eff. July 1, 2006.