(1) “Adjuster” means any person who, for compensation as an independent contractor or as an employee of an independent contractor, or for fee or commission, investigates or reports to the adjuster’s principal relative to claims arising under insurance contracts, on behalf solely of either the insurer or the insured. The term does not apply to an attorney-at-law who adjusts insurance losses from time to time incidental to the practice of the attorney’s or the adjuster’s profession, or an adjuster of marine losses, or a salaried employee of an insurer or of a general agent.
(2) “Independent adjuster” means a person licensed as an all-lines adjuster who is self-appointed or appointed and employed by an independent adjusting firm or other independent adjuster, and who undertakes on behalf of an insurer to ascertain and determine the amount of any claim, loss, or damage payable under an insurance contract or undertakes to effect settlement of such claim, loss, or damage.
(3) “Public adjuster” means a person, who for money, commission, or any other thing of value, prepares, completes, or files an insurance claim form for an insured in negotiating for or effecting the settlement of a claim or claims for loss or damage covered by an insurance contract or who advertises for employment as an adjuster of such claims.
(b) “Agent” means any person appointed by an insurer to solicit application for insurance on its behalf, and if authorized so to do, to effectuate and countersign insurance contracts except as to life or disability insurances, and to collect premiums on insurance so applied for or effectuated.
(c) “Bail bond insurance” has the meaning used in section 459 of chapter 19 of this title.
(d) “Broker” means any person who, on behalf of the insured, for compensation as an independent contractor, for commission, or fee, and not being an agent of the insurer, solicits, negotiates, or procures insurance or reinsurance or the renewal or continuance thereof, or in any manner aids therein, for insureds or prospective insured other than himself.
(e) “Business entity” means a corporation, association, partnership, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, sole proprietor or any other legal entity.
(f) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Insurance.
(g) “Home state” means the District of Columbia and any state or territory of the United States in which an insurance producer maintains his principal place of residence or principal place of business and is licensed to act as an insurance producer.
(h) “Insurance” has the same meaning as provided in section 3 of chapter 1 of this title.
(i) “Insurance producer” means a person required to be licensed under the laws of the Virgin Islands to sell, solicit or negotiate insurance. It does not include excess and surplus line brokers licensed under chapter 27 of this title or adjusters as defined in this section.
(j) “Insurer” has the meaning as provided in section 4 of chapter 1 of this title.
(k) “License” means a document issued by the Commissioner authorizing a person to act as an insurance producer for the lines of authority specified in the document. The license itself does not create any authority, actual, apparent or inherent, in the holder to represent or commit to an insurer.
(l) “Limited lines credit insurance” includes life, credit disability, credit property, credit unemployment, involuntary unemployment, mortgage life, mortgage guaranty, mortgage disability, automobile protection gap insurance, and any other form of insurance offered in connection with an extension of credit that is limited to partially or wholly extinguishing that credit obligation that the Commissioner determines should be designated a form of limited line credit insurance.
(m) “Limited lines insurance” means those lines of insurance defined in section 759(a)(7)-(12) of this chapter or any other line of insurance that the Commissioner considers necessary to recognize for the purposes of complying with section 763(g) of this chapter.
(n) “Limited lines producer” means a person authorized by the Commissioner to sell, solicit or negotiate limited lines insurance.
(o) “Managing General Agent” means an individual, firm or business entity that manages all or part of the insurance business of an insurer, including the management of a separate division, department or underwriting office; and acts as an agent for such insurer whether known as a managing general agent, manager or other similar term, who, with or without the authority, either separately or together with affiliates, produces, directly or indirectly, and underwrites an amount of gross direct written premium equal to or more than five percent of the policyholder surplus as reported in the last annual statement of the insurer in any one quarter or year together with the following activity related to the business produced, adjusts or pays claims in excess of $10,000 per claim or negotiates reinsurance on behalf of the insurer.
(p) “NAIC” means National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
(q) “Negotiate” means the act of conferring directly with or offering advice directly to a purchaser or prospective purchaser of a particular contract of insurance concerning any of the substantive benefits, terms or conditions of the contract, if “the person engaged in that act either sells insurance or obtains insurance from insurers for purchasers.
(r) “Person” means an individual or a business entity.
(s) “Policyholders surplus” means assets in excess of the liabilities of a company or net income above any monies indebted to legal obligation.
(t) “Sell” means to exchange a contract of insurance by any means, for money or its equivalent, on behalf of an insurance company.
(u) “Solicit” means attempting to sell insurance or asking or urging a person to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company.
(v) “Solicitor” means an individual authorized by an agent or broker or insurance producer to solicit applications for insurance as a representative of such agent or broker and to collect premiums in connection wherewith. An individual employed by, and devoting full time to clerical work with incidental taking of insurance applications and receiving premiums in the office of the agent or broker is not deemed to be solicitor if the individual’s compensation is not related to the volume of such applications, insurances, or premiums.
(w) “Terminate” means the cancellation of the relationship between an insurance producer and the insurer or between a solicitor and an agent or broker or the termination of an insurance producer’s authority to transact insurance.
(x) “Title insurance agent” means a person licensed under the laws of the Virgin Islands and appointed by an authorized title insurance company to sell, solicit, or negotiate insurance on behalf of the title insurance company.
(y) “Uniform Application” means the current version of the NAIC Uniform Application for resident and nonresident producer licensing.
(z) “Uniform Business Entity Application” means the current version of the NAIC Uniform Business Entity Application for resident and nonresident business entities.