2019 Tennessee Code
Title 68 - Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
Safety
Chapter 102 - Fire Prevention and Investigation
Part 1 - General Provisions
§ 68-102-115. Cooperation of insurance companies and authorized fire officials in cases of suspected arson.
(a) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) “Authorized agency” means the state fire marshal, or any person acting on the state fire marshal's behalf, or any prosecuting attorney responsible for prosecutions in the county where the fire occurred, or any law enforcement officer responsible for investigating fire losses, and, solely for the purpose of subsection (c), means:
(A) The federal bureau of investigation or any other federal agency;
(B) The United States attorney's office when involved in an investigation or prosecution involving the fire in question; and
(C) The Tennessee bureau of investigation;
(2) “Insurance company” means any corporation, partnership, association, person or other legal entity that sells or has sold a contract of insurance, as defined in § 56-7-101, within this state or that is doing business in this state as an insurance company under the requirements of title 56, chapter 2; and
(3) “Relevant” means information that proves, or has a tendency to prove or disprove, the existence or nonexistence of any fact that is of consequence to the investigation that suggests future behavior tendencies of a person of interest, including a propensity for violence, that may assist an insurance company in determining a fact or motive of a person of interest, or both.
(b) When an insurance company after investigation, has reason to believe that a fire loss in which it has an interest may be of other than accidental cause, then, for the purpose of notification and for having such fire loss investigated, the company shall give written notice to the state fire marshal and to such other authorized agency as it has reason to believe appropriate to expedite the investigation. The written notice shall include, but not be limited to, the name of the owner and the occupant of any building burned, the owner of any personal property burned, the date and location of the fire, and any other facts and circumstances then known to the company that tend to establish the cause or origin of the fire. The report shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any reports that the company may be required to make by any law of the state to the commissioner of commerce and insurance or other state official.
(c) Any authorized agency involved in the investigation may request any insurance company investigating a fire loss of real or personal property to release to the requesting agency any relevant information or evidence deemed important to the authorized agency that the company may have in its possession, relating to the fire itself. The company shall release the information and cooperate with any official authorized to request the information pursuant to this section. Relevant information may include, but not be limited to:
(1) Pertinent insurance policy information relevant to any fire loss under investigation and any application for the policy;
(2) Policy premium payment records that are available;
(3) History of previous claims made by the insured for fire loss; and
(4) Material relating to the investigation of the loss, including statements of any person, proof of loss, and any other evidence relevant to the investigation.
(d) In the absence of malice, no authorized agency, and no insurance company, or person who furnishes information on behalf of either, shall be liable for damages in a civil action or subject to criminal prosecution for any oral or written statement made or any other action taken to supply information pursuant to this section. However, this section applies only to oral and written statements, provided under subsection (c), to the state fire marshal and any other authorized agency.
(e) Any authorized agency or insurance company that receives any information furnished pursuant to this section shall hold the information in confidence and not release the information, except as provided in this section, until such time as its release is required pursuant to a criminal or civil proceeding. Any authorized agency, or its personnel, may be required to testify in any litigation in which the insurance company at interest is named as a party.
(f)
(1) Any authorized agency provided with information pursuant to subsection (b) and in furtherance of its own purposes, or at the request of any other authorized agency, may release or provide such information to any other authorized agencies.
(2) Any insurance company providing information to an authorized agency or agencies pursuant to subsection (b) may request relevant information obtained in an investigation from such authorized agency and must receive, within a reasonable time, not to exceed thirty (30) days, the information requested. The authorized agency may withhold information deemed sensitive to a non-arson criminal investigation with the approval of the supervising agent. The Tennessee bureau of investigation, however, may withhold any investigative document that the bureau believes would compromise the integrity of a criminal investigation.
(g) This section shall not be construed to affect or repeal any ordinance of any municipality relating to fire prevention or the control of arson, but the jurisdiction of the fire marshal and any prosecuting attorney in such municipality is to be concurrent with that of municipal and county authorities. With the exception of subsection (d), all other provisions of this section shall not be construed to impair any existing statutory or common law rights.
(h) This section must not be construed to inhibit the investigative rights of any insurance company. An authorized agency involved in an investigation pursuant to this section shall allow the reporting insurance company to concurrently conduct its own, independent investigation without obstruction, in accordance with the direction of and in the presence of the agency.
