Information submitted pursuant to the provisions of this article is confidential and may not be made public by the director or an agent or employee of the director without the prior written consent of the SPFC, except that:

(1) information submitted pursuant to the provisions of this article is discoverable by a party in a civil action or contested case to which the submitting SPFC is a party, upon a specific finding by the court that:

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-90-610

  • Director: means the Director of the South Carolina Department of Insurance or the director's designee. See South Carolina Code 38-90-10
  • insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • 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.

(a) the SPFC is a necessary party to the action and not joined only for the purposes of evading the confidentiality provisions of this article;

(b) the party seeking the information demonstrates by a clear and convincing standard that the information sought is relevant, material to, and necessary for the prosecution or defense of the claim asserted in the action; and

(c) the information sought is unavailable from other nonconfidential sources.

(2) The director may disclose the information to the public officer having jurisdiction over the regulation of insurance in another state if:

(a) the public official agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality of the information; and

(b) the laws of the state in which the public official serves require the information to be confidential.

(3) The director may disclose the information to the securities commissioner if he:

(a) agrees in writing to maintain the confidentiality of the information; and

(b) is authorized under applicable securities law to request the information or the director is obligated to disclose the information.