Free Louisiana Property practice questions

Answer: B. A fine not exceeding $250

R.S. 22:1552(B) caps the fine for a producer's use of a nonapproved trade name at $250. Section 1552(A) requires written notice to the commissioner, on the commissioner's form, before an assumed name is used. $5,000 is the separate additional fine that applies only to continued use after the commissioner's notice to stop. $50 is the per-violation penalty in R.S. 22:1547(G) for failing to report a change of address or name within thirty days, and $1,000 is not a figure Section 1552 uses.

Answer: A. It must apply for actuarially justified rates that stay within the rates R.S. 22:2303 authorizes

Under the Citizens take-out program, a take-out company's rates in the first year must comply with R.S. 22:2303. For the second and third years, the company must apply to the Department of Insurance for rates that are actuarially justified, and those rates may in no case be greater than R.S. 22:2303 authorizes. The limit therefore continues past the first year, the company does not simply freeze its first-year rate, and because the limit applies in no case, approval by the Citizens board cannot lift it.

Answer: A. File a change of address and provide certification from Mississippi within 30 days of the move

R.S. 22:1548(C) requires a resident producer who moves from Louisiana to another state to file a change of address, showing both current and prior addresses, and to provide certification from the new resident state within thirty days of changing legal residence. The same subsection says no license application is required for this filing, so a new application is not what the law asks for. Ninety days is the period R.S. 22:1551(B) gives a producer moving into Louisiana to apply for a resident license, and Section 1548(C) imposes no examination. Waiting until renewal misses the thirty-day deadline.

Answer: B. A fine of not more than $5,000

The books-and-records statute for domestic insurers provides that any director, officer, agent, or employee who destroys required books, records, or documents without the commissioner's authority, or who fails to keep them, is to be fined not more than $5,000. The $1,000, $10,000, and $25,000 ceilings do not appear in that provision.

Answer: C. A person knowingly reports false material facts on a Department-required form to defraud

The definition reaches acts committed knowingly and with intent to defraud, and one listed act is supplying false or fraudulent material information in any document or statement the Department of Insurance requires. A good-faith claim that is later denied and an application error the producer neither knew of nor intended both lack the required knowledge and intent to defraud. Asking in writing for a copy of the adjuster's repair estimate involves no false information and no intent to defraud, so it falls outside the definition.

Answer: B. Thirty days

Under R.S. 22:1983(E), the commissioner has thirty days from the end of the rebuttal period to consider the refiled report, any written submissions and relevant examiner workpapers, and to enter an order either adopting the report (as refiled or with modification or corrections) or rejecting it and ordering a hearing. Sixty days is the time the examiner in charge has to file the original verified report after the examination is completed, not the commissioner's time to act on a refiled report. Fifteen and ninety days are not periods this subsection uses.

Answer: C. Theft, because the producer intended to deprive the rightful owner permanently

R.S. 22:1554(J) makes a person who knowingly converts premiums to his own use guilty of theft under R.S. 14:67 when he intends to permanently deprive the rightful owner. Unauthorized use of a movable under R.S. 14:68 is the crime where there is no such intent, and this producer meant to keep the money. The subsection itself declares the conduct a crime, so the consequence is not limited to license discipline, and it sets no condition that the insurer first terminate the producer's appointment.

Answer: B. Her home state grants nonresident licenses to Louisiana residents on the same basis

R.S. 22:1560(A) makes the waiver turn on reciprocity: the commissioner waives the requirements for a nonresident applicant holding a valid home-state license, other than those imposed by R.S. 22:1548, when the applicant's home state treats Louisiana residents the same way in granting nonresident licenses. Section 1560(A) sets no minimum period of prior licensure, does not condition the waiver on passing a Louisiana examination, and does not require an office in Louisiana. The two-year experience and Louisiana office conditions belong to surplus lines broker licensing under R.S. 22:1547(I), not to this waiver.

Answer: D. Sixty days before the cancellation effective date

For a commercial policy within Louisiana's commercial cancellation statute that is not a renewal and has been in effect fewer than sixty days, cancellation is made by mailing or delivering written notice to the first-named insured at the policy mailing address at least sixty days before the cancellation takes effect. The only exception at this stage is cancellation for nonpayment of premium, which needs at least ten days of notice, so ten days does not fit this insurer's reason. Twenty and thirty days are not the periods this paragraph sets.

Answer: D. Thirty days of written notice delivered or mailed to the mortgagee

Under the mortgagee interest and obligations clause of the standard fire policy, the interest of a designated mortgagee who is not the named insured may be canceled by delivering or mailing the mortgagee a thirty-day written notice, or a ten-day written notice when the cancellation is for nonpayment of premium. Because this cancellation is for another reason, thirty days applies. Ten days is reserved for nonpayment, and twenty and sixty days are not periods this clause uses.