Florida Statutes 626.601 – Improper conduct; inquiry; fingerprinting
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Terms Used In Florida Statutes 626.601
- Adjuster: means a public adjuster as defined in…. See Florida Statutes 626.015
- agent: includes an insurance producer or producer, but does not include a customer representative, limited customer representative, or service representative. See Florida Statutes 626.015
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Customer representative: means an individual appointed by a general lines agent or agency to assist that agent or agency in transacting the business of insurance from the office of that agent or agency. See Florida Statutes 626.015
- Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
- Insurance agency: means a business location at which an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other entity, other than an employee of the individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, or other entity and other than an insurer as defined by…. See Florida Statutes 626.015
- 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.
- Managing general agent: means any person managing all or part of the insurance business of an insurer, including the management of a separate division, department, or underwriting office, and acting as an agent for that insurer, whether known as a managing general agent, manager, or other similar term, who, with or without authority, separately or together with affiliates, produces directly or indirectly, or underwrites an amount of gross direct written premium equal to or more than 5 percent of the policyholder surplus as reported in the last annual statement of the insurer in any single quarter or year and also does one or more of the following:1. See Florida Statutes 626.015
- Nolo contendere: No contest-has the same effect as a plea of guilty, as far as the criminal sentence is concerned, but may not be considered as an admission of guilt for any other purpose.
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Service representative: means an individual employed by an insurer or managing general agent for the purpose of assisting a general lines agent in negotiating and effecting insurance contracts when accompanied by a licensed general lines agent. See Florida Statutes 626.015
(1) The department or office may, upon its own motion or upon a written complaint signed by any interested person and filed with the department or office, inquire into any alleged improper conduct of any licensed, approved, or certified licensee, insurance agency, agent, adjuster, service representative, managing general agent, customer representative, title insurance agent, title insurance agency, mediator, neutral evaluator, navigator, continuing education course provider, instructor, school official, or monitor group under this code. The department or office may thereafter initiate an investigation of any such individual or entity if it has reasonable cause to believe that the individual or entity has violated any provision of the insurance code. During the course of its investigation, the department or office shall contact the individual or entity being investigated unless it determines that contacting such individual or entity could jeopardize the successful completion of the investigation or cause injury to the public.(2) In the investigation by the department or office of any alleged misconduct, an individual or entity shall, whenever so required by the department or office, cause the individual’s or entity’s books and records to be open for inspection for the purpose of such investigation.(3) Complaints against an individual or entity may be informally alleged and are not required to include language necessary to charge a crime on an indictment or information.(4) The expense for any hearings or investigations conducted under this law, as well as the fees and mileage of witnesses, may be paid out of the appropriate fund.(5) If the department or office, after investigation, has reason to believe that an individual may have been found guilty of or pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to a felony or a crime related to the business of insurance in this or any other state or jurisdiction, the department or office may require the individual to file with the department or office a complete set of his or her fingerprints, in accordance with s. 626.171(4), which shall be accompanied by the fingerprint processing fee set forth in s. 624.501. The fingerprints shall be taken by an authorized law enforcement agency or other department-approved entity.(6) The complaint and any information obtained pursuant to the investigation by the department or office are confidential and are exempt from s. 119.07 unless the department or office files a formal administrative complaint, emergency order, or consent order against the individual or entity. This subsection does not prevent the department or office from disclosing the complaint or such information as it deems necessary to conduct the investigation, to update the complainant as to the status and outcome of the complaint, to review the details of the investigation with the individual or entity being investigated or their representative, or to share such information with any law enforcement agency or other regulatory body.