(a) Nothing in this Article reduces the liability for unpaid assessments of the insureds or enrollees of a delinquent insurer operating under a plan with assessment liability.

(b) Records shall be kept of all negotiations and meetings in which the Association or its representatives are involved and in which the activities of the Association in carrying out its powers and duties under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-62-36 are discussed. Records of those negotiations or meetings shall be made public only upon the termination of a liquidation, rehabilitation, or conservation proceeding involving the delinquent insurer, upon the termination of the delinquency of the member insurer, or upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in this subsection limits the duty of the Association to render a report of its activities under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-62-66.

(c) For the purpose of carrying out its obligations under this Article, the Association is a creditor of the delinquent insurer to the extent of assets attributable to covered policies reduced by any amounts to which the Association is entitled as subrogee under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-62-36(r). Assets of the delinquent insurer attributable to covered policies shall be used to continue all covered policies and pay all contractual obligations of the delinquent insurer as required by this Article. Assets attributable to covered policies or contracts, as used in this subsection, are that proportion of the assets that the reserves that should have been established for the policies or contracts bear to the reserves that should have been established for all policies of insurance or health benefit plans written by the delinquent insurer.

(d) Before the termination of any liquidation, rehabilitation, or conservation proceeding, the court may take into consideration the contributions of the respective parties, including the Association, the shareholders, contract owners, certificate holders, enrollees, and policy owners of the insolvent insurer, and any other party with a bona fide interest, in making an equitable distribution of the ownership rights of the insolvent insurer. In making such a determination, consideration shall be given to the welfare of the policy owners, certificate holders, and enrollees of the continuing or successor member insurer.

(e) No distribution to stockholders, if any, of a delinquent insurer shall be made until and unless the Association has fully recovered the total amount of its valid claims with interest thereon for funds expended in carrying out its powers and duties under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 58-62-36 with respect to the member insurer.

(f) If an order for liquidation or rehabilitation of a member insurer domiciled in this State has been entered, the receiver appointed under the order has a right to recover on behalf of the member insurer, from any affiliate that controlled it, the amount of distributions, other than stock dividends paid by the member insurer on its capital stock, made at any time during the five years preceding the petition for liquidation or rehabilitation subject to the limitations of subsections (g) through (i) of this section.

(g) No such distribution is recoverable if the member insurer shows that when paid the distribution was lawful and reasonable, and that the member insurer did not know and could not reasonably have known that the distribution might adversely affect the member insurer’s ability to fulfill its contractual obligations.

(h) Any person who was an affiliate that controlled the member insurer when the distributions were paid is liable up to the amount of distributions it received. Any person who was an affiliate that controlled the member insurer when the distributions were declared is liable up to the amount of distributions it would have received if they had been paid immediately. If two or more persons are liable with respect to the same distributions, they are jointly and severally liable.

(i) The maximum amount recoverable under this subsection is the amount needed in excess of all other available assets of the insolvent insurer to pay the insolvent insurer’s contractual obligations.

(j) If any person liable under subsection (h) of this section is insolvent, all of its affiliates that controlled it when the distribution was paid are jointly and severally liable for any resulting deficiency in the amount recovered from the insolvent affiliate. (1991, c. 681, s. 56; 2018-120, s. 1.1(k).)