2010 Tennessee Code
Title 56 - Insurance
Chapter 11 - Insurance Holding Company System Act of 1986
56-11-111 - Penalties Injunctions.

56-11-111. Penalties Injunctions.

(a)  Any insurer or health maintenance organization failing, without just cause, to file any registration statement as required in this chapter shall be required, after notice and hearing, to pay a penalty of one hundred dollars ($100) for each day's delay, to be recovered by the commissioner, and the penalty so recovered shall be paid into the general revenue fund of this state. The maximum penalty under this section is ten thousand dollars ($10,000). The commissioner may reduce the penalty if the insurer or health maintenance organization demonstrates to the commissioner that the imposition of the penalty would constitute a financial hardship to the insurer or health maintenance organization.

(b)  Every director or officer of an insurance holding company system or health maintenance organization holding company system who knowingly violates, participates in, or assents to, or who knowingly permits any of the officers or agents of the insurer or health maintenance organization to engage in, transactions or make investments that have not been properly reported or submitted pursuant to §§ 56-11-105(a) and 56-11-106(a) and (b), and that violate this chapter, shall pay, in the director's or officer's individual capacity, a civil forfeiture of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation, after notice and hearing before the commissioner. In determining the amount of the civil forfeiture, the commissioner shall take into account the appropriateness of the forfeiture with respect to the gravity of the violation, the history of previous violations, and other matters as justice may require.

(c)  Whenever it appears to the commissioner that any insurer or health maintenance organization subject to this chapter, or any director, officer, employee or agent thereof, has engaged in any transaction or entered into a contract that is subject to § 56-11-106 and that would not have been approved had such approval been requested, the commissioner may order the insurer or health maintenance organization to cease and desist immediately any further activity under that transaction or contract. After notice and hearing, the commissioner may also order the insurer or health maintenance organization to void any such contracts and restore the status quo if the action is in the best interest of the policyholders, creditors, or the public.

(d)  Whenever it appears to the commissioner that any insurer or health maintenance organization or any director, officer, employee or agent thereof has committed a willful violation of this chapter, the commissioner may cause criminal proceedings to be instituted against the insurer or health maintenance organization or the responsible director, officer, employee or agent. Any insurer or health maintenance organization that willfully violates this chapter may be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000). Any individual who willfully violates this chapter may be fined in the person's individual capacity not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or be punished for a Class E felony, or both.

(e)  Any officer, director or employee of an insurance holding company system or health maintenance organization holding company system who willfully and knowingly subscribes to or makes or causes to be made any false statements or false reports or false filings with the intent to deceive the commissioner in the performance of the commissioner's duties under this chapter, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or be punished for a Class E felony, or both. Any fines imposed shall be paid by the officer, director, or employee in the person's individual capacity.

[Acts 1986, ch. 572, § 11; 1989, ch. 591, §§ 58, 59; 2000, ch. 708, § 3i; T.C.A. § 56-11-211.]