§ 7910 — Enforcement provisions

§ 7910. Enforcement provisions. (a) The superintendent may conduct\ninvestigations or examinations of providers, administrators, insurers or\nother persons to enforce the provisions of this article and protect\nservice contract holders in this state. Upon request of the\nsuperintendent, the provider shall make all accounts, books and records\nconcerning service contracts sold in this state by the provider\navailable to the superintendent which are necessary to enable the\nsuperintendent to reasonably determine compliance or noncompliance with\nthis article.\n (b) The superintendent may take action which is necessary or\nappropriate to enforce the provisions of this article and the\nsuperintendent's regulations and orders, and to protect service contract\nholders in this state.\n (1) If the provider has violated this article or the superintendent's\nregulations or orders, the superintendent may order a service contract\nprovider to cease and desist from committing violations of this article\nor the superintendent's regulations or orders, may issue an order\nsuspending a provider's registration under this article or prohibiting a\nservice contract provider from marketing, selling, offering for sale,\nissuing, making or proposing to make service contracts, or may issue an\norder imposing a civil penalty, or any combination of these. An order\nissued under this paragraph may be delivered to the provider at its\nprincipal office or to the provider's designated agent for service of\nprocess indicated in the provider's registration materials pursuant to\nparagraph two of subsection (a) of section seven thousand nine hundred\nseven of this article.\n (A) A person aggrieved by an order issued under this paragraph may\nrequest a hearing before the superintendent. The hearing request shall\nbe filed with the superintendent within twenty days of the date the\nsuperintendent's order is effective;\n (B) If a hearing is requested, an order issued under this paragraph\nshall be suspended from the original effective date of the order until\ncompletion of the hearing and delivery of the final decision thereon by\nthe superintendent, except that where the provider has demonstrated a\nconsistent pattern or practice of gross misconduct in connection with\nthe marketing, sale, offering for sale, issuance, making or proposing to\nmake of service contracts, the effective date of the order shall not be\nsuspended pending the hearing and decision by the superintendent; and\n (C) At the hearing, the burden shall be on the superintendent to show\nwhy the order issued pursuant to this paragraph is justified. The\nprovisions of section three hundred five of the financial services law\nshall apply to a hearing requested under this paragraph.\n (2) The superintendent may bring an action in any court of competent\njurisdiction for an injunction or other appropriate relief to enjoin\nthreatened or existing violations of this article or of the\nsuperintendent's orders or regulations. An action filed under this\nparagraph may also seek restitution on behalf of persons aggrieved by a\nviolation of this article or orders or regulations of the\nsuperintendent.\n (3) A person in violation of this article may be subject to a monetary\npenalty of not more than five hundred dollars per violation. If the\nviolation is not willful, such person may in lieu of paying such\nmonetary penalty, provide restitution to the persons aggrieved by the\nviolation or otherwise remedy the violation within sixty days after\nbecoming aware of the violation.\n (c) The authority of the superintendent under this section is in\naddition to any other authority of the superintendent.\n