NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1975 SESSION

CHAPTER 668
HOUSE BILL 142

AN ACT TO AMEND ARTICLE 3A OF CHAPTER 58 OF THE GENERAL STATUTES TO INCLUDE UNFAIR CLAIMS SETTLEMENT PRACTICES WITHIN THE DEFINITION OF UNFAIR AND DECEPTIVE ACTS AND PRACTICES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  Article 3A of Chapter 58 of the General Statutes as the same appears in Volume 2B of the General Statutes is hereby amended by the addition of the following subsection to be designated G.S. 58-54.4(11) and reading as follows:
"§ 58-54.4(11).  In connection with first party claims, committing or performing with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice any of the following:
(a)	misrepresenting pertinent facts or insurance policy provisions relating to coverages at issue;
(b)	failing to acknowledge and act reasonably promptly upon communications with respect to claims arising under insurance policies;
(c)	failing to adopt and implement reasonable standards for the prompt investigation of claims arising under insurance policies;
(d)	refusing to pay claims without conducting a reasonable investigation based upon all available information;
(e)	failing to affirm or deny coverage of claims within a reasonable time after proof of loss statements have been completed;
(f)	not attempting in good faith to effectuate prompt, fair and equitable settlements of claims in which liability has become reasonably clear;
(g)	compelling insured to institute litigation to recover amounts due under an insurance policy by offering substantially less than the amounts ultimately recovered in actions brought by such insureds;
(h)	attempting to settle a claim for less than the amount to which a reasonable man would have believed he was entitled;
(i)	attempting to settle claims on the basis of an application which was altered without notice to, or knowledge or consent of the insured;
(j)	making claims payments to insureds or beneficiaries not accompanied by statement setting forth the coverage under which the payments are being made;
(k)	making known to insureds or claimants a policy of appealing from arbitration awards in favor of insureds or claimants for the purpose of compelling them to accept settlements or compromises less than the amount awarded in arbitration;
(l)	delaying the investigation or payment of claims by requiring an insured claimant, or the physician of either to submit a preliminary claim report and then requiring the subsequent submission of formal proof of loss forms, both of which submissions contain substantially the same information;
(m)	failing to promptly settle claims, where liability has become reasonably clear, under one portion of the insurance policy coverage in order to influence settlements under other portions of the insurance policy coverage; and
(n)	failing to promptly provide a reasonable explanation of the basis in the insurance policy in relation to the facts or applicable law for denial of a claim or for the offer of a compromise settlement."
Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective upon ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 18th day of June, 1975.