1.    If a person seeks from an insurer communications involving an insurance compliance audit or any insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document during the course of a pending civil or criminal proceeding, the insurer may assert the self-critical analysis privilege and provide the information set forth in subsection 6 during the course of those proceedings just as any other privilege is asserted in the courts of this state. If the court is required to make a determination as to the privilege, the court shall follow the procedure and conditions set forth in subsection 5.

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Terms Used In North Dakota Code 26.1-51-07

  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • 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: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • written: include "typewriting" and "typewritten" and "printing" and "printed" except in the case of signatures and when the words are used by way of contrast to typewriting and printing. See North Dakota Code 1-01-37

2.    If there is a pending administrative proceeding, or there is no pending civil or criminal proceeding, the commissioner, state’s attorney, or attorney general may serve on an insurer a written request by certified mail for disclosure of an insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document. Within thirty days after the commissioner, state’s attorney, or attorney general serves on an insurer a written request by certified mail for disclosure of an insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document, the insurer that prepared or caused the document to be prepared may file with the appropriate court a petition requesting an in-camera hearing on whether the insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document or portions of the document are privileged under this chapter or subject to disclosure. The court has jurisdiction over a petition filed by an insurer under this subsection requesting an in-camera hearing on whether the insurance compliance self-critical analysis document or portions of the document are privileged or subject to disclosure. Failure by the insurer to file a petition waives the privilege for only the specific request made.

3.    An insurer asserting the insurance compliance self-critical analysis privilege in response to a request for disclosure under this section shall include in its request for an in-camera hearing all of the information set forth in subsection 6.

4.    Upon the filing of a petition under this section, the court shall issue an order scheduling, within forty-five days after the filing of the petition, an in-camera hearing to determine whether the insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document or portions of the document are privileged under this chapter or subject to disclosure.

5.    The court, after an in-camera review, may require disclosure of material for which the privilege is asserted if the court determines, based upon its in-camera review, that any one of the conditions set forth in subsection 2 of section 26.1-51-06 is applicable as to a civil or administrative proceeding or that any one of the conditions set forth in subsection 3 of section 26.1-51-06 is applicable as to a criminal proceeding. Upon making such determination, the court may only compel the disclosure of those portions of an insurance compliance self-critical analysis document relevant to issues in dispute in the underlying proceeding. A compelled disclosure may not be considered to be a public document or be deemed to be a waiver of the privilege for any other civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding. An insurer unsuccessfully opposing disclosure may apply to the court for an appropriate order protecting the document from further disclosure.

    6.    An insurer asserting the insurance compliance self-critical analysis privilege in response to a request for disclosure under this section shall provide at the time of making and filing any objection to the disclosure all of the following information:

a.    The date of the insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document; b.    The identity of the entity conducting the audit; c.    The general nature of the activities covered by the insurance compliance audit; and d.    An identification of the portions of the insurance compliance self-critical analysis audit document for which the privilege is being asserted.