2021 Georgia Code
Title 34 - Labor and Industrial Relations
Chapter 9 - Workers' Compensation
Article 4 - Insurance of Compensation Liability Generally
§ 34-9-130. Authority of Commissioner of Insurance to Investigate Rates; Assistance by Board in Investigations
In addition to the authority prescribed in Title 33, the Commissioner of Insurance shall have the power, in such manner and by such means as he may deem proper and adequate, to gather statistics and information and make investigations concerning rates for such insurance. He may take into consideration the income, earnings, and loss ratios from any and every source whatever of any such company and may call upon the directors of the State Board of Workers' Compensation to sit with him in an advisory capacity at any investigation or hearing concerning any rate or rates.
(Ga. L. 1920, p. 167, § 73; Ga. L. 1929, p. 358, § 2; Code 1933, § 114-609; Ga. L. 1982, p. 644, § 6.)
Code Commission notes.- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1986, "Commissioner of Insurance" was substituted for "Insurance Commissioner".
Cross references.- Use of licensed rating organizations in making filings under section, § 33-9-3.
Law reviews.- For article surveying developments in Georgia workers' compensation law from mid-1980 through mid-1981, see 33 Mercer L. Rev. 323 (1981).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Commissioner has discretion to give the greatest weight to the information which the commissioner considers most valuable; this includes the discretion to consider composite filings as advisory or as "benchmark" filings against individual filings. Caldwell v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 248 Ga. 282, 282 S.E.2d 885 (1981).
Parties to a workers' compensation insurance contract do not have freedom of contract with respect to the rates to be charged in such contract, but they are bound by the rate approved by the Insurance Commissioner for coverage of such a policy or contract. Walker v. Bituminous Cas. Corp., 74 Ga. App. 517, 40 S.E.2d 228 (1946).
There was a statutory right to obtain judicial review of the order of the Insurance Commissioner determining the workers' compensation insurance rates under this section. National Council on Comp. Ins. v. Caldwell, 154 Ga. App. 528, 268 S.E.2d 793 (1980).
Cited in Dixie Constr. Prods., Inc. v. Southeastern Council on Comp. Ins., 183 Ga. App. 101, 357 S.E.2d 831 (1987).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 82 Am. Jur. 2d, Workers' Compensation, §§ 472, 473.
C.J.S.- 100 C.J.S., Workers' Compensation, §§ 734 et seq., 774, 804.
