(a) If an order for liquidation or rehabilitation of a domestic insurer has been entered, the receiver appointed under the order has a right to recover on behalf of the insurer (i) from any parent corporation or holding company or person or affiliate who otherwise controlled the insurer, the amount of distributions (other than distributions of shares of the same class of stock) paid by the insurer on its capital stock, or (ii) any payment in the form of a bonus, termination settlement, or extraordinary lump sum salary adjustment made by the insurer or its subsidiary to a director, officer, or employee, where the distribution or payment pursuant to (i) or (ii) is made at any time during the one year preceding the petition for liquidation, conservation, or rehabilitation, as the case may be, subject to the limitations of subsections (b), (c), and (d).

(b) No such distribution may be recoverable if the parent or affiliate shows that when paid the distribution was lawful and reasonable and that the insurer did not know and could not reasonably have known that the distribution might adversely affect the ability of the insurer to fulfill its contractual obligations.

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Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-21-360

  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • director: means the Director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance or his designee. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
  • Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • person: means an individual, a corporation, a partnership, an association, a joint stock company, a trust, an unincorporated organization, any similar entity, or any combination of the foregoing acting in concert. See South Carolina Code 38-21-10
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.

(c) Any person who was a parent corporation or holding company or a person who otherwise controlled the insurer or affiliate at the time the distributions were paid is liable up to the amount of distributions or payments under subsection (a). Any person who otherwise controlled the insurer at the time the distributions were declared is liable up to the amount of distributions he 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.

(d) The maximum amount recoverable under this section is the amount needed in excess of all other available assets of the impaired or insolvent insurer to pay the contractual obligations of the impaired or insolvent insurer and to reimburse any guaranty funds.

(e) To the extent that any person liable under subsection (c) is insolvent or otherwise fails to pay claims due from it pursuant to such subsection, its parent corporation or holding company or person who otherwise controlled it at the time the distribution was paid is jointly and severally liable for any resulting deficiency in the amount recovered from the parent corporation or holding company or person who otherwise controlled it.

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