The answer to the above question seems obvious. The right of a business to choose what types of products and/or services it will provide is fundamental to the successful operation of a free enterprise economy. If every insurance agency had to offer the same types of insurance policies and/or services, competition among them would be […]
Read more...Category: New Laws/Court Decisions
Use of Text Messages by Insurance Agents
All the marketing articles I have seen recently advise insurance agencies and other businesses to be accessible to their customers and potential customers using every means of communication available. One of those means is sending text messages to a mobile telephone number. The IIABA recently published a memorandum on the legal requirements that must be met by insurance agencies […]
Read more...New PEO Regulation
Last weekend, I attended an insurance agency function at which the Insurance Commissioner, Ralph Hudgens, spoke. In his speech, he mentioned that a new regulation governing the sale of insurance products by Professional Employer Organizations (“PEOs”) has been adopted by his office. That regulation will take effect on February 14, 2018. It amends Sections 120-2-3-.03 […]
Read more...Insurance Certificates – Use of Additional Remarks Schedule
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post on the legality of agents issuing opinion letters about the coverages provided by their insured’s insurance policies. The next week, I received an email from a participant in the Free Legal Service Program that I run for the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia asking me to […]
Read more...Brokerage Fees – Revisited
A recent Bulletin from the Insurance Commissioner’s Office has caused me to reconsider a blog post from almost five years ago. In the Bulletin, the Insurance Commissioner reminded brokers who handle excess and surplus lines policies that they cannot collect sums for those policies in excess of the “premiums and charges for insurance specified by the […]
Read more...Insurance Certificates and Opinion Letters
My last post about insurance certificates was almost two years ago. At that time, the consensus seemed to be that issues regarding them were declining as all the interested parties became more familiar with Georgia’s law and regulations. However, I learned from a recent participant in the Free Legal Service program that I run for members of […]
Read more...Is An Agency Required To Obtain A License When Its Agent Must Obtain a Non-Resident License?
My last blog post dealt with the question of when an insurance agent must obtain a non-resident license if they are placing insurance coverage for a risk located in another state. This post will explore the related question of whether the agent’s insurance agency must also obtain a license from the insurance department of the other […]
Read more...When Are You Required to Obtain a Non-Resident License?
Unlike most summers, this one has been very busy for my law practice. I have been involved in the sale of three of my insurance agency clients in the past couple of months, which is one reason I haven’t been as diligent as I should have in making blog posts. This post concerns an issue that has arisen in each […]
Read more...Uninsured Motorist Coverage – Traps for the Unwary
In May of this year, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued two decisions involving uninsured motorist coverage that all agents should be aware of, as both of them create potential E&O exposure. In the first case, the Court of Appeals held that the insureds had uninsured motorist coverage in the amount of their liability coverage, […]
Read more...Raffles – Can They Be Used to Encourage Referrals? (Updated)
A recent caller to the Free Legal Service program that I run for the members of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia asked the above question. His agency was thinking about running a promotion that gave a raffle ticket for each referral made to the agency during a specified period of time. The winner would receive […]
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