§ 27-29-8 - Procedure as to unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices which are not defined.
SECTION 27-29-8
§ 27-29-8 Procedure as to unfair methodsof competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices which are not defined.– (a) Whenever the insurance commissioner shall have reason to believe that anyperson engaged in the business of insurance is engaging in this state in anymethod of competition or in any act or practice in the conduct of businesswhich is not defined in § 27-29-4, that the method of competition isunfair or that the act or practice is unfair or deceptive and that a proceedingby the commissioner in respect to it would be to the interest of the public,the commissioner may issue and serve upon the person a statement of the chargein that respect and a notice of a hearing on the charge to be held at a timeand place fixed in the notice. The hearing shall be conducted in the samemanner as the hearings provided for in § 27-29-5. The insurancecommissioner shall after the hearings make a report in writing in which thecommissioner shall state his or her findings as to the facts, and thecommissioner shall serve a copy of it upon the person.
(b) If the report charges a violation of this chapter and ifthe method of competition, act, or practice has not been discontinued, theinsurance commissioner may, through the attorney general of this state, at anytime after ten (10) days after the service of the report, cause a petition tobe filed in the superior court of this state for the counties of Providence andBristol to enjoin and restrain the person from engaging in that method, act, orpractice. The court shall have jurisdiction of the proceeding and shall havethe power to make and enter appropriate orders in connection with theproceedings and to issue any of the writs ancillary to its jurisdiction ornecessary in its judgment to prevent injury to the public pendente lite.
(c) A transcript of the proceedings before the insurancecommissioner, including all evidence taken and the report and findings, shallbe filed with the petition. If either party shall apply to the court for leaveto adduce additional evidence and shall show to the satisfaction of the courtthat the additional evidence is material and there were reasonable grounds forthe failure to adduce the evidence in the proceedings before the insurancecommissioner, the court may order the additional evidence to be taken beforethe insurance commissioner and to be adduced upon the hearing in a manner andupon those terms and conditions the court may deem proper. The insurancecommissioner may modify his or her findings of fact or make new findings byreason of the additional evidence taken, and the commissioner shall file themodified or new findings with the return of the additional evidence.
(d) If the court finds that the method of competitioncomplained of is unfair or that the act or practice complained of is unfair ordeceptive, that the proceeding by the insurance commissioner with respect to itis to the interest of the public, and that the findings of the insurancecommissioner are supported by the weight of the evidence, it shall issue itsorder enjoining and restraining the continuance of the method of competition,act, or practice.