Free Connecticut Property practice questions

Answer: C. Give the board or its authorized representative access to those records, with copies on request

The Act requires the liquidator, receiver or statutory successor of a covered insolvent insurer to let the board, or a representative the board authorizes, reach the records the board decides it needs for its covered-claim functions, and to hand over copies when the board asks for them. The statute does not make that access wait on a commissioner-ordered examination, on the final settlement of claims, or on court approval of each request.

Answer: A. 180 days

The commissioner may issue a temporary producer license without requiring an examination, for a period of no more than 180 days, where it is needed to service an insurance business, for example for the surviving spouse or court-appointed personal representative of a producer who has died or become disabled. The other periods offered are not the maximum Connecticut sets.

Answer: C. The person must have acted with intent to deceive when circulating the false statement

The provision applies to any person, not only to insurers or their officers, and reaches filing a false statement of an insurer's financial condition with a public official as well as publishing, circulating or delivering one to any person or to the public. The element it adds is intent to deceive. Nothing in it confines the prohibition to officers or directors, requires that the statement first be filed with the commissioner, or requires that anyone relied on the statement and lost money.

Answer: B. No, because the assessment regulations must be printed on the policy itself

Connecticut requires a mutual, cooperative or reciprocal insurer that has special regulations on policyholders' payment of assessments to print those regulations on the policy, and it permits such an insurer to print other regulations its form of organization calls for or requires. Keeping the rules in bylaws, mailing them on request, or merely referring to them does not satisfy a requirement that they appear on the policy. A mutual insurer may issue the standard fire policy, as the same section requires the head of the policy to state whether the insurer is a stock or mutual corporation.

Answer: B. New business may be written or bound only with the insurer's specific written approval

Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 38a-709(b) requires a licensed insurer terminating an agency contract to give at least 90 days' written notice in advance, unless the termination is for the producer's failure, after a written demand, to pay over money due the insurer. During that 90-day period the producer may not write or bind new business for the insurer without the insurer's specific written approval. So the producer's authority is restricted during the notice period, the approval that matters is the insurer's rather than the commissioner's, and new business the insurer specifically approves in writing is permitted.

Answer: A. Send a conditional renewal notice, delivered as a nonrenewal notice must be, naming the higher deductible

When an insurer will renew a policy within sections 38a-663 to 38a-696 on terms less favorable to the insured, Connecticut requires a conditional renewal notice sent in the same manner as a notice of nonrenewal. That notice must clearly identify any increase in deductibles, as well as any reduction in coverage limits or coverage provisions added or revised that reduce coverage, so a deductible increase alone triggers the duty. The statute calls for a notice rather than the insured's signed consent, and a disclosure in a bill after the new term has started is not a conditional renewal notice sent the way a nonrenewal notice must be sent.

Answer: D. It is permitted, because the commissioner may contract with an outside testing service to administer the examinations

Connecticut authorizes the commissioner to make arrangements for administering producer examinations, and the statute expressly names contracting with an outside testing service as one of those arrangements. A private vendor giving the exam is therefore lawful. The provision does not limit examinations to department employees, does not confine vendor testing to nonresident candidates, and does not require legislative approval of the contract; the authority it grants belongs to the commissioner.

Answer: D. A summary within thirty days, covering a period starting no more than four years before the request

On a written request from the principal named insured, a Connecticut insurer must provide, within thirty days of receipt, a summary of claim information on a commercial policy covering a period that begins no more than four years before the request. The summary includes each policy number, each period of coverage, the number of claims, paid losses and the date of each loss. The duty arises on request and does not wait for a cancellation or nonrenewal, the statute sets thirty days rather than sixty, and the look-back is capped at four years rather than the full relationship.

Answer: D. $2,000

Sec. 38a-841(a)(1)(A) limits the association's obligation on a covered claim for unearned premium to one-half of the unearned premium on the policy, with a maximum of $2,000 per policy. Half of $6,000 is $3,000, which exceeds the cap, so the association owes $2,000. $3,000 applies the one-half rule but ignores the per-policy cap, $6,000 ignores both limits, and $1,000 is less than the formula produces.

Answer: A. As a contract of insurance under Connecticut insurance law

Connecticut defines a home warranty contract or home warranty service agreement as an agreement to repair or replace a structural component of a dwelling of four or fewer units when needed because of wear and tear, deterioration or inherent defect, an inspection's failure to detect those conditions, or substandard material or workmanship. The statute then declares that such an agreement is a contract of insurance under section 38a-319, so it is not a warranty outside insurance regulation. The definition excludes only a seller's guarantee of workmanship and materials given to a purchaser in a sale, and this company did not sell the homes. The statute treats the agreement itself as the insurance contract, not as an endorsement to some other policy.