Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes > Chapter 431 > Article 2D - Market Conduct

• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Commissioner: means the insurance commissioner of the State of Hawaii. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Complaint: means a written or documented oral communication to the insurance division primarily expressing a grievance, meaning an expression of dissatisfaction. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Comprehensive market conduct examination: means a review of one or more lines of business of an insurer domiciled in this State that is not conducted for cause. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• county: includes the city and county of Honolulu. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 1-22
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Enterprise: includes any sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association, and any union or group of individuals associated for a particular purpose although not a legal entity. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 842-1
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
• Insurance compliance audit: means a voluntary, internal evaluation, review, assessment, audit, or investigation for the purpose of identifying or preventing noncompliance with, or promoting compliance with laws, regulations, orders, or industry or professional standards, which is conducted by or on behalf of an insurer, or which involves an insurer activity regulated by the commissioner. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document: means documents prepared as a result of or in connection with an insurance compliance audit. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Interrogatories: Written questions asked by one party of an opposing party, who must answer them in writing under oath; a discovery device in a lawsuit.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• Market analysis: means a process whereby market conduct surveillance personnel collect and analyze information from filed schedules, surveys, required reports, and other sources to develop a baseline and to identify patterns or practices of insurers licensed to do business in this State that deviate significantly from the norm or that may pose a potential risk to the insurance consumer. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Market conduct action: means any of the full range of activities that the commissioner may initiate to assess the market and practices of individual insurers, beginning with market analyses and extending to targeted examinations. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Market conduct examination: means the examination of the insurance operations of an insurer licensed to do business in this State to evaluate compliance with the applicable laws and rules of this State. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Market conduct surveillance personnel: means those individuals employed or contracted by the commissioner to collect, analyze, review, or act on information about the insurance marketplace, which identifies patterns or practices of insurers. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• National Association of Insurance Commissioners: means the organization of insurance regulators from the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the four United States territories. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: includes any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property and includes nonresident aliens. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 842-1
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Qualified contract examiner: means a person under contract to the commissioner, who is qualified by education, experience and, where applicable, professional designations, to perform market conduct actions. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Racketeering activity: means any act or threat involving but not limited to murder, kidnapping, gambling, criminal property damage, robbery, bribery, extortion, labor trafficking, unlicensed sale of liquor, theft, or prostitution, or any dealing in narcotic or other dangerous drugs that is chargeable as a crime under state law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 842-1
• Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
• Targeted examination: means a focused examination conducted for cause, based on the results of market analysis indicating the need to review either a specific line of business or specific business practices, including but not limited to underwriting and rating, marketing and sales, complaint handling operations, advertising materials, licensing, policyholder services, non-forfeitures, claims handling, or policy forms and filings. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 431:2D-102
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Unlawful debt: means a debt incurred or contracted in an illegal gambling activity or business or which is unenforceable under state law in whole or in part as to principal or interest because of the law relating to usury. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 842-1
• Usury: Charging an illegally high interest rate on a loan. ^{Source: OCC}