(a)

Need help with a review of an employment contract? Chat with an attorney and protect your rights.

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 56-47-108

  • Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Tennessee Code 56-16-102
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Department: means the department of commerce and insurance. See Tennessee Code 56-1-102
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Pattern or practice: means repeated, routine or generalized in nature, and not merely isolated or sporadic. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
  • Person: means a natural person, company, corporation, unincorporated association, partnership, professional corporation, agency of government or any other entity. See Tennessee Code 56-47-102
  • Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Any person economically injured by reason of a violation of § 56-47-104 may recover for the economic injury from the person violating § 56-47-104, in any appropriate court, the following:

(i) Return of any profit, benefit, compensation or payment received by the person violating § 56-47-104 directly resulting from the violation; and
(ii) Reasonable attorney‘s fees, related legal expenses, including internal legal expenses and court costs.
(2) An action maintained under this subsection (a) may neither be certified as a class action nor be made part of a class action.
(b)

(1) Any person economically injured by reason of a violation of § 56-47-103 may recover for the economic injury from the person violating § 56-47-103, in any appropriate court, the following:

(i) Return of any profit, benefit, compensation or payment received by the person violating § 56-47-103 directly resulting from the violation;
(ii) Reasonable attorney’s fees, related legal expenses, including internal legal expenses and court costs;
(iii) All other economic damages directly resulting from the violation of § 56-47-103;
(iv) Reasonable investigative fees based on a reasonable estimate of the time and expense incurred in the investigation of the violation or violations of § 56-47-103 proved at trial; and
(v) A penalty of no less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) and no greater than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(2) An action maintained under this subsection (b) may neither be certified as a class action nor be made part of a class action.
(c) Any person injured in the course of employment or in such person’s business or property by a person violating § 56-47-103, upon a showing of clear and convincing evidence that the violation was part of a pattern or practice of such violations, shall be entitled to recover threefold the injured person’s economic damages. An action for treble damages must be brought within one (1) year of the last to occur of the violations. One third (1/3) of the treble damages awarded shall be payable to the state to be used solely for the purpose of investigation and prosecution of violations of this chapter or other fraudulent behavior relating to insurance transactions, and/or for public education relating to workers’ compensation insurance fraud. An action maintained under this subsection (c) may neither be certified as a class action nor be made part of a class action, unless the violations of § 56-47-103 giving rise to the action resulted in criminal conviction of the violator or violators under § 56-47-105.
(d)

(1) The attorney general and reporter has the authority to maintain civil proceedings on behalf of the department of commerce and insurance and any victims of violations of § 56-47-103. In any such action, the court shall proceed as soon as practicable to the hearing and determination of the proceedings. Pending final determination of the proceedings, the court may at any time enter restraining orders or prohibitions, or take other actions, including the acceptance of satisfactory performance bonds, as it shall deem proper.
(2) The court has the jurisdiction to prevent and restrain violations of § 56-47-103 by issuing appropriate orders.
(3) In any action commenced under this subsection (d), the court, upon finding that any person has violated § 56-47-103, shall levy a fine of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each violation.
(e) Any court in which a prosecution for violation of § 56-47-103 is pending shall have authority to stay or limit proceedings in any civil action regarding the same or related conduct. Any court in which is pending a civil action brought pursuant to subsection (d) may stay or limit proceedings in actions brought pursuant to subsections (a)-(c) regarding the same or related conduct, or may transfer the actions or consolidate them before itself or allow the plaintiffs in such actions to participate in the action brought pursuant to subsection (d), as it shall prescribe.
(f) Any civil cause of action under this section for violation of § 56-47-103 or § 56-47-104 must be brought within one (1) year of the commission of the last occurring of the acts constituting the violation, or within one (1) year of the time the plaintiff discovered, or with reasonable diligence could have discovered, the acts, whichever is later.
(g) Any person economically injured by reason of a violation of § 56-47-103 or § 56-47-104 may recover under only one (1) of the subsections in this section.