(A) An order to liquidate the business of a domestic insurer must appoint the director and his successors in office, or his designee, as liquidator and direct the liquidator immediately to take possession of the assets of the insurer and to administer them under the general supervision of the court. The liquidator is vested by operation of law with the title to the property, contracts, and rights of action and the books and records of the insurer ordered liquidated, wherever located, as of the entry of the final order of liquidation. The filing or recording of the order with the clerk of court or the register of deeds of the county in which its principal office or place of business is located or, for real estate, with the clerk of court and the register of deeds of the county where the property is located imparts the same notice which a deed, bill of sale, or other evidence of title filed or recorded with that office would have imparted.

(B) Upon issuance of the order, the rights and liabilities of the insurer and its creditors, policyholders, shareholders, members, and other persons interested in its estate become fixed as of the date of entry of the order of liquidation, except as provided in §§ 38-27-380 and 38-27-560.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-27-370

  • Alien insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of a country other than the United States of America, its states, commonwealths, territories, or insular possessions. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • 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.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Director: means the person who is appointed by the Governor upon the advice and consent of the Senate and who is responsible for the operation and management of the department. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Domestic insurer: means an insurer incorporated or organized under the laws of this State. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • 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.
  • insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Policy: means a contract of insurance. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20

(C) An order to liquidate the business of an alien insurer domiciled in this State must be in the same terms and has the same legal effect as an order to liquidate a domestic insurer, except that the assets and the business in the United States are the only assets and business included.

(D) At the time of petitioning for an order of liquidation, or after that time, the director or his designee, after making appropriate findings of an insurer’s insolvency, may petition the court for a judicial declaration of insolvency. After providing notice and hearing it considers proper the court may make the declaration.

(E) An order issued under this section must require accounting to the court by the liquidator. Accountings must be at intervals the court specifies in its order.

(F)(1) Within five days of the effective date of this subsection or within five days after the initiation of an appeal of an order of liquidation, which order has not been stayed, the director or his designee shall present for the court’s approval a plan for the continued performance of the defendant company’s policy claims obligations, including the duty to defend insureds under liability insurance policies during the pendency of an appeal. The plan must provide for the continued performance and payment of policy claims obligations in the normal course of events notwithstanding the grounds alleged in support of the order of liquidation including the ground of insolvency. If the defendant company’s financial condition, in the judgment of the director or his designee, does not support the full performance of policy claims obligations during the appeal pendency period, the plan may prefer the claims of certain policyholders and claimants over creditors and interested parties as well as other policyholders and claimants as the director or his designee finds to be fair and equitable considering the relative circumstances of the policyholders and claimants. The court shall examine the plan submitted by the director or his designee and if it finds the plan to be in the best interests of the parties, the court shall approve the plan. No action may lie against the director, or his deputies, designees, agents, clerks, assistants, or attorneys based on preference in an appeal pendency plan approved by the court.

(2) The appeal pendency plan may not supersede or affect the obligations of an insurance guaranty association. An appeal pendency plan must provide for equitable adjustments to be made by the liquidator to distributions of assets to guaranty associations, if the liquidator pays claims from assets of the estate, which otherwise would be the obligations of a guaranty association but for the appeal of the order of liquidation, so that guaranty associations equally benefit on a pro rata basis from the assets of the estate. If an order of liquidation is set aside upon appeal, the company must not be released from delinquency proceedings unless funds advanced by a guaranty association, including reasonable administrative expenses relating to obligations of the company, are repaid in full, together with interest at the judgment rate of interest or unless an arrangement for repayment has been made with the consent of applicable guaranty associations.

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