Nebraska Statutes 44-8911. Confidential information; how treated;director; powers; release of material; when
(1) For purposes of this section, confidential information means:
Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 44-8911
- Action: shall include any proceeding in any court of this state. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Company: shall include any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, joint-stock company, joint venture, or association. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Department: shall mean the Department of Insurance. See Nebraska Statutes 44-103
- Director: shall mean the Director of Insurance. See Nebraska Statutes 44-103
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Domestic: when applied to corporations shall mean all those created by authority of this state. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Foreign: when applied to corporations shall include all those created by authority other than that of this state. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: shall include bodies politic and corporate, societies, communities, the public generally, individuals, partnerships, limited liability companies, joint-stock companies, and associations. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
- Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
(a) A memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under section 44-8905 and any other documents, materials, and other information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the director or any other person in connection with such memorandum;
(b) All documents, materials, and other information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the director or any other person in the course of an examination made under subsection (6) of section 44-8908, except that if an examination report or other material prepared in connection with an examination made under the Insurers Examination Act is not held as private and confidential information under the act, an examination report or other material prepared in connection with an examination made under subsection (6) of section 44-8908 shall not be confidential information to the same extent as if such examination report or other material had been prepared under the Insurers Examination Act;
(c) Any reports, documents, materials, and other information developed by a company in support of, or in connection with, an annual certification by the company under subdivision (2)(b) of section 44-8909 evaluating the effectiveness of the company’s internal controls with respect to a principle-based valuation and any other documents, materials, and other information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the director or any other person in connection with such reports, documents, materials, and other information;
(d) Any principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision (2)(c) of section 44-8909 and any other documents, materials, and other information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the director or any other person in connection with such report; and
(e) Any data, documents, materials, and other information submitted by a company under section 44-8910, known as experience data, and any other data, documents, materials, and information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created or produced in connection with such experience data, known as experience materials, in each case that includes any potentially company-identifying or personally identifiable information, that is provided to or obtained by the director and any other documents, materials, data, and other information, including, but not limited to, all working papers, and copies thereof, created, produced, or obtained by or disclosed to the director or any other person in connection with such experience data and experience materials.
(2)(a) Except as provided in this section, a company’s confidential information is confidential by law and privileged and shall not be a public record subject to disclosure by the director pursuant to sections 84-712 to 84-712.09, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall not be subject to discovery or admissible in evidence in any private civil action, except that the director may use the confidential information in the furtherance of any regulatory or legal action brought against the company as a part of the director’s official duties.
(b) Neither the director nor any person who received confidential information while acting under the authority of the director shall be permitted or required to testify in any private civil action concerning any confidential information.
(c) In order to assist in the performance of the director’s duties, the director may share confidential information (i) with other state, federal, and international regulatory agencies and with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries and (ii) in the case of confidential information specified in subdivisions (1)(a) and (b) of this section, with the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline or its successor upon request stating that the confidential information is required for the purpose of professional disciplinary proceedings. The recipient must agree, and must have the legal authority to agree, to maintain the confidentiality and privileged status of such data, documents, materials, and other information in the same manner and to the same extent as required for the director.
(d) The director may receive data, documents, materials, and other information, including otherwise confidential and privileged data, documents, materials, or information, from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and its affiliates and subsidiaries, from regulatory or law enforcement officials of other foreign or domestic jurisdictions, and from the Actuarial Board for Counseling and Discipline or its successor and shall maintain as confidential or privileged any data, document, material, or other information received with notice or the understanding that it is confidential or privileged under the laws of the jurisdiction that is the source of the data, document, material, or other information.
(e) The director may enter into agreements governing sharing and use of information consistent with this subsection.
(f) No waiver of any applicable privilege or claim of confidentiality in the confidential information shall occur as a result of disclosure to the director under this section or as a result of sharing as authorized in subdivision (2)(c) of this section.
(g) A privilege established under the law of any state or jurisdiction that is substantially similar to the privilege established under subsection (2) of this section shall be available and enforced in any proceeding in, and in any court of, this state.
(h) Regulatory agency, law enforcement agency, and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners include employees, agents, consultants, and contractors of such entities.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2) of this section, any confidential information specified in subdivisions (1)(a) and (d) of this section:
(a) May be subject to subpoena for the purpose of defending an action seeking damages from the appointed actuary submitting the related memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under section 44-8905 or principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision (2)(c) of section 44-8909 by reason of an action required by the Standard Valuation Act or by rule and regulation;
(b) May otherwise be released by the director with the written consent of the company; and
(c) Once any portion of a memorandum in support of an opinion submitted under section 44-8905 or a principle-based valuation report developed under subdivision (2)(c) of section 44-8909 is cited by the company in its marketing or is publicly volunteered to or before a governmental agency other than a state insurance department or is released by the company to the news media, all portions of such memorandum or report shall no longer be confidential.