(a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as set forth in this section, proceedings, hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records and other information in the possession of the commissioner or the department relating to the supervision of any insurer are confidential except as provided by this section.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 56-9-504

  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-9-501
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-9-501
  • Insurer: means and includes every person engaged as indemnitor, surety or contractor in the business of entering into contracts of insurance or of annuities, as limited to:
    (A) Any insurer who is doing an insurer business, or has transacted insurance in this state, and against whom claims arising from that transaction may exist now or in the future. See Tennessee Code 56-9-501
  • 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.
  • Receiver: means receiver, liquidator, rehabilitator or conservator as the context requires. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
  • State: means any state, district or territory of the United States and the Panama Canal Zone. See Tennessee Code 56-9-103
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) The personnel of the department have access to these proceedings, hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records or information as permitted by the commissioner.
(c) The commissioner may open the proceedings or hearings or disclose the notices, correspondence, reports, records or information to a department, agency or instrumentality of this, or another, state or the United States, if the commissioner determines that the disclosure is necessary or proper for the enforcement of the laws of this state, another state or the United States.
(d) The commissioner may open the proceedings or hearings or make public the notices, correspondence, reports, records or other information if the commissioner deems that it is in the best interest of the public or in the best interest of the insurer, its insureds, creditors or the general public.
(e) This section does not apply to hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records or other information obtained upon the appointment of a receiver for the insurer by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(f) This section does not apply to hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records or other information obtained by the placing under supervision of any insurer who derived as of the date of the supervision fifty-one percent (51%) or more of its total revenues for the past twelve (12) months from a contract or contracts with a governmental entity to provide health care services to enrollees in a publicly funded medical assistance program pursuant to title 71. In these cases, the hearings, notices, correspondence, reports, records, or other information which reflect the financial solvency of the insurer obtained during the supervision shall be open to the public under the Tennessee Public Records Act, compiled in title 10, chapter 7, unless otherwise required to be maintained as confidential under the federal or state law. An insurer within fifteen (15) days from the notice of supervision may apply to the court for a stay of application of this subsection (f), or for a protective order for particularized information that is proprietary in nature, the disclosure of which would be injurious to the rehabilitation of the insurer. This subsection (f) shall be stayed from the notice of supervision until a court of competent jurisdiction rules on the application for a stay or a protective order.
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