Terms used in this chapter mean:

(1) “Account,” any one of the three accounts created by this chapter;

Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 58-29A-55

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Person: includes natural persons, partnerships, associations, cooperative corporations, limited liability companies, and corporations. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
  • Property: includes property, real and personal. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
  • State: when used in context signifying a jurisdiction other than the State of South Dakota, a state, the District of Columbia, a territory, commonwealth, or possession of the United States of America, or a province of the Dominion of Canada. See South Dakota Codified Laws 58-1-2

(2) “Affiliate,” any person who, directly or indirectly, through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another person on December thirty-first of the year immediately preceding the date the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer;

(3) “Association,” the South Dakota Insurance Guaranty Association created under this chapter;

(4) “Claimant,” any insured making a first party claim or any person instituting a liability claim. No person who is an affiliate of the insolvent insurer may be a claimant;

(5) “Director,” the director of the Division of Insurance of the Department of Labor and Regulation;

(6) “Control,” the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of a person, whether through the ownership of voting securities, by contract other than a commercial contract for goods or nonmanagement services, or otherwise, unless the power is the result of an official position with or corporate office held by the person. Control is presumed to exist if a person, directly or indirectly, owns, controls, holds with the power to vote, or holds proxies representing ten percent or more of the voting securities of any other person. This presumption may be rebutted by a showing that control does not exist in fact;

(7) “Covered claim,”

(a) An unpaid claim, including one for unearned premiums, submitted by a claimant, which arises out of and is within the coverage and is subject to the applicable limits of an insurance policy to which this chapter applies issued by an insurer, if the insurer becomes an insolvent insurer after July 1, 1970, and:

(i) The claimant or insured is a resident of this state at the time of the insured event. However, for entities other than an individual, the residence of a claimant, insured, or policyholder is the state in which its principal place of business is located at the time of the insured event; or

(ii) The claim is a first party claim for damage to property with a permanent location in this state.

(b) The term, covered claim, does not include:

(i) Any amount awarded as punitive or exemplary damages;

(ii) Any amount sought as a return of premium under any retrospective rating plan;

(iii) Any amount due any reinsurer, insurer, insurance pool, or underwriting association as subrogation recoveries, reinsurance recoveries, contribution, indemnification, or otherwise. No claim for any amount due any reinsurer, insurer, insurance pool, or underwriting association may be asserted against a person insured under a policy issued by an insolvent insurer other than to the extent the claim exceeds the association obligation limitations set forth in this chapter;

(iv) Any first party claims by an insured whose net worth exceeds fifty million dollars. An insured’s net worth shall be deemed to include the aggregate net worth of the insured and any of its subsidiaries and affiliates as calculated on a consolidated basis;

(v) Any first party claims by an insured which is an affiliate of the insolvent insurer;