I hope your Labor Day weekend was a safe and enjoyable one. It capped off a busy month for me in terms of travel and time out of the office. I finished up my travels in August by spending a few days in Nashville at a conference put on by one of my clients. In […]
Read more...Category: Practical Tips
Policy Information Disclosure – What Are The Rules?
A recent caller to the Free Legal Service Program that I operate for members of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia asked a question I had heard several times before with slight variations. The essence of the question is whether an insurance agent can disclose information about a customer’s insurance policy to a third party, […]
Read more...Website Privacy Notices – An Update
Almost three years ago, I wrote a post titled, “Must an Agency Website Contain a Privacy Statement?“. My conclusion was that such a statement was required only if the website could be used to collect “nonpublic personal information” about someone who visited it. This would be the case, for example, if a potential customer […]
Read more...Payment of Referral Fees – New Issues
I continue to receive calls on the Free Legal Service Program that I operate for members of the Independent Insurance Agents of Georgia about the payment of referral fees. My last post on this subject looked at potential restrictions that may be placed on the payment of such fees by laws and regulations that apply […]
Read more...Interns – The Law Has Changed
With high schools and colleges nearing the end of this academic year, I thought it would be a good time to update my readers on the changes that have occurred in how the U.S. Department of Labor (“USDOL”) looks at the question of whether an intern must be paid for the time they spend performing […]
Read more...Can An Agency Limit The Types Of Insurance Policies It Will Issue?
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...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...Severe Weather Issues for Insurance Agencies
Given the likelihood that Hurricane Irma will have a significant impact on the Georgia coast and potentially other areas of the state, I thought it would be a good idea to remind agency owners of the rules regarding payment of their employees if their offices are closed. My blog post in January of this year explains those rules […]
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