§ 26-1-102 — Definitions

Wyoming § 26-1-102

• Jurisdiction: Wyoming
• Title 26: Insurance Code
• Ch. 1: SCOPE OF CODE

Text

(a) As used in this act:
(i) "Adjuster" means any individual who either
investigates and negotiates settlements relative to insurance
claims or applies the factual circumstances of an insurance
claim to the insurance policy provisions, or both, arising under
property and casualty insurance contracts. An attorney-at-law
who is licensed to practice law in this state, or a licensed
agent or broker who adjusts or assists in adjustment of losses
arising under policies issued through that broker or by the
insurer represented by that agent, is not an adjuster for the
purposes of chapter 9 of this code;
(ii) "Agent" means any individual, firm or
corporation appointed by an insurer to solicit applications for
insurance or annuities or to negotiate insurance or annuities on
its behalf;
(iii) "Alien" insurer means an insurer formed under
the laws of any country other than the United States of America
or any of its states;
(iv) "Annuity" means a contract under which
obligations are assumed with respect to periodic payments where
the making or continuance of all or some of the payments, or the
amount of the payments, is dependent upon the continuance of
human life, and a contract which includes extra benefits of the
kinds set forth in W.S. 26-5-102 and 26-5-103 is an annuity if
the extra benefits constitute a subsidiary or incidental part of
the entire contract;
(v) "Authorized" insurer means an insurer authorized
by a subsisting certificate of authority issued by the
commissioner to transact insurance in this state;
(vi) "Broker", except as used in chapter 11 of this
code, means a resident individual, firm or corporation organized
under the laws of the state of Wyoming who, not being an agent
of the insurer, as an independent contractor and on behalf of
the insured, for compensation or fee solicits, negotiates or
procures insurance or the renewal or continuance thereof for
insureds or prospective insureds, other than himself;
(vii) "Charter" means articles of incorporation,
agreement or association, charter granted by legislative act, or
other basic constituent document of a corporation or the power
of attorney of the attorney-in-fact of a reciprocal insurer;
(viii) "Commissioner" means the insurance
commissioner of this state;
(ix) "Department" means the department of insurance
of this state, unless the context otherwise requires;
(x) "Domestic" insurer means an insurer formed under
the laws of Wyoming;
(xi) "Domicile" of an insurer means:
(A) As to Canadian insurers, Canada and the
province in which the insurer's head office is located;
(B) As to other alien insurers authorized to
transact insurance in one (1) or more states as provided in W.S.
26-3-130;
(C) As to alien insurers not authorized to
transact insurance in one (1) or more states, the country under
the laws of which the insurer was formed;
(D) As to all other insurers, the state under
the laws of which the insurer was formed.
(xii) "Foreign insurer" means an insurer formed under
the laws of any jurisdiction other than this state and includes
an "alien" insurer unless otherwise distinguished by the
context;
(xiii) "General lines agent" means an agent who
transacts any of the following kinds of insurance:
(A) Property insurance;
(B) Casualty insurance;
(C) Surety insurance;
(D) Marine and transportation insurance;
(E) Disability insurance, if transacted for an
insurer also represented by the same agent as to property or
casualty insurance.
(xiv) "Industrial life insurance" means life
insurance written under policies of face amount of one thousand
dollars ($1,000.00) or less bearing the words "industrial
policy" imprinted on the face of the policy and under which
premiums are payable monthly or more often;
(xv) "Insurance" means a contract in which one
undertakes to indemnify another against loss, damage or
liability arising from determinable hazards or fortuitous
occurrences or to pay or allow a specified amount or
determinable benefit in connection with ascertainable risk
contingencies;
(xvi) Except as otherwise provided in W.S. 26-22-501
through 26-22-503, "insurer" means any person engaged as
indemnitor, surety or contractor in the business of entering
into contracts of insurance or of annuity;
(xvii) "Life agent" means an agent who transacts life
insurance or annuity business and includes also the transaction
of disability insurance on behalf of an insurer for whom the
agent is also licensed as to life insurance;
(xviii) "Managing general agent" means a person,
firm, association or corporation meeting the definition of
managing general agent under W.S. 26-46-101;
(xix) "Mutual insurer" means an incorporated insurer
without capital stock and the governing body of which is elected
by its policyholders, except certain foreign insurers which the
commissioner finds to be organized on the mutual plan under the
laws of their state or province of domicile, but having
temporary share capital or providing for election of the
insurer's governing body on a reasonable basis by members or by
policyholders and others are not excluded as mutual insurers;
(xx) Except as used in chapter 31 of this code,
"person" means an individual, insurer, company, association,
organization, Lloyd's insurer, society, reciprocal insurer or
interinsurance exchange, partnership, syndicate, business trust,
corporation, agent, general agent, broker, adjuster and any
legal entity;
(xxi) "Policy" means the written contract of or
written agreement for or effecting insurance, by whatever name
called, and includes all clauses, riders, endorsements and
papers which are a part thereof;
(xxii) "Premium" means the consideration for
insurance, by whatever name called, and any assessment,
membership, policy, survey, inspection, service or similar fee
or other charge in consideration for an insurance contract is
part of the premium;
(xxiii) "Reciprocal insurance" means insurance from
an interexchange among persons, known as subscribers, of
reciprocal agreements of indemnity, the interexchange being
carried out through an attorney-in-fact common to all persons
involved;
(xxiv) "Reciprocal insurer" means an unincorporated
aggregation of subscribers operating individually and
collectively through an attorney-in-fact to provide reciprocal
insurance among themselves;
(xxv) Repealed By Laws 2011, Ch. 60, § 3.
(xxvi) Repealed by Laws 2001, Ch. 201, § 5.
(xxvii) "State" means any state, district, territory,
commonwealth or possession of the United States of America and
the Panama Canal Zone if used in a context signifying a
jurisdiction other than the state of Wyoming;
(xxviii) "Stock insurer" means an incorporated
insurer with its capital divided into shares and owned by its
stockholders;
(xxix) "Surplus" in any determination or statement of
an insurer's financial condition means the excess of the
insurer's assets over its liabilities as ascertained in
accordance with chapter 6 of this code;
(xxx) "Transact" with respect to a business of
insurance means:
(A) Solicitation or inducement;
(B) Negotiations;
(C) Carrying out of a contract of insurance;
(D) Transaction of matters subsequent to the
carrying out and arising out of a contract of insurance; or
(E) Any other aspects of insurance operations to
which this code applies.
(xxxi) "Unauthorized" insurer means an insurer not
authorized as provided in paragraph (a)(v) of this section;
(xxxii) "This act" or "this code" means title 26 of
the Wyoming statutes;
(xxxiii) "Private health benefit plan" means any
hospital or medical policy or certificate, major medical expense
insurance, hospital or medical service plan contract or health
maintenance organization subscriber contract. "Private health
benefit plan" does not include accident only, credit, dental,
vision, Medicare supplement, long-term care or disability income
insurance, policies or certificates providing coverage for a
specified disease or hospital confinement indemnity or limited
benefit health insurance, coverage issued as a supplement to
liability insurance, worker's compensation or similar insurance,
automobile medical payment insurance or any hospital or medical
policy, major medical expense insurance, hospital or medical
service plan or contract which by contract or product design is
intended to provide coverage for six (6) months or less.
Notwithstanding other provisions of this section, the Medicaid
program shall continue to obtain reimbursement recovery from all
types of insurance included in this section prior to July 2,
2011;
(xxxiv) "Public health benefit plan" means medicare,
medicaid or other health benefit programs or coverages operated
or maintained by any governmental entity;
(xxxv) "Insurance producer" means a person required
to be licensed under the laws of this state to sell, solicit or
negotiate insurance, including, but not limited to, agents and
brokers;
(xxxvi) "Fair value", "fair market value" or "market
value" mean fair value as determined pursuant to the most recent
National Association of Insurance Commissioners' accounting
practices and procedures manual;
(xxxvii) "Consumer reporting agency" means any person
who does any of the following:
(A) Regularly engages, in whole or in part, in
the practice of assembling or preparing consumer reports for a
monetary fee;
(B) Obtains information primarily from sources
other than insurers;
(C) Furnishes consumer reports to other persons.
(xxxviii) "Insurance support organization" means:
(A) Any person who regularly engages, in whole
or in part, in the practice of assembling or collecting
information about natural persons for the primary purpose of
providing the information to an insurance institution or
insurance producer for insurance transactions, including the
furnishing of consumer reports or investigative consumer reports
to an insurer or insurance producer for use in connection with
an insurance transaction or the collection of personal
information from insurers, insurance producers or other
insurance support organizations for the purpose of detecting or
preventing fraud, material misrepresentation or material
nondisclosure in connection with insurance underwriting or
insurance claim activity;
(B) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A) of this
paragraph the following persons are not considered insurance
support organizations for purposes of this code:
(I) Insurance producers;
(II) Government institutions;
(III) Insurers;
(IV) Medical care institutions;
(V) Medical professionals.
(xxxix) "Insurance transaction" means:
(A) For the purposes of paragraph (xxxviii)of
this subsection, any transaction involving insurance primarily
for personal, family or household needs rather than business or
professional needs and which entails the determination of an
individual's eligibility for an insurance coverage, benefit or
payment or the servicing of an insurance application, policy,
contract or certificate;
(B) For all other purposes except as provided in
subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, any transaction involving
insurance, including any act specified in paragraph (xxx) of
this subsection.
(xl) "Investigative consumer report" means a consumer
report or portion of a consumer report in which information
about a natural person's character, general reputation, personal
characteristics or mode of living is obtained through personal
interviews with the person's neighbors, friends, associates,
acquaintances or others who may have knowledge concerning those
items of information;
(xli) "NAIC" means the National Association of
Insurance Commissioners;
(xlii) A natural person who engages in or conducts
the "business of insurance" means a person has duties that
require licensure under this code or that are a major part of a
person's duties and require specialized knowledge of insurance,
which knowledge has been acquired through training and
experience and is sufficient that close supervision from a
person licensed under this code is not needed. A person is not
engaged in the business of insurance who performs tasks often
found in business offices not engaged in insurance and who
requires close supervision from a person licensed under this
code to engage in tasks requiring specialized insurance
knowledge. A person in training who performs duties requiring
specialized knowledge of insurance is not engaged in the
business of insurance if that person is under close supervision
from a person licensed under this code;
(xliii) "Multiple employer welfare arrangement" means
an employee welfare benefit plan, as defined in 29 U.S.C. §
1002, or any other arrangement which is established to provide
hospital, medical or surgical benefits in the event of sickness,
accident, disability or death to the employees of two (2) or
more employers, which may include self employed individuals,
meeting a commonality of interest test, or to the beneficiaries
of these persons. This term shall include a bona fide group or
association of employers authorized to establish an employee
welfare benefit plan under federal law.
(b) As used in W.S. 26-2-116 through 26-2-124:
(i) "Examiner" means any individual or firm
authorized by the commissioner to conduct an examination under
W.S. 26-2-116 through 26-2-124;
(ii) "Person" means as defined in W.S. 26-1-
102(a)(xx) and includes all affiliates of the entities referred
to in that definition and air ambulance membership organizations
as identified in chapter 43, article 3 of this code.