A. If any insurance institution, agent, or insurance-support organization fails to comply with §§ 38.2-608, 38.2-609, or § 38.2-610, any person whose rights granted under those sections are violated may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for appropriate equitable relief.

Terms Used In Virginia Code 38.2-617

  • Attorney: means the person designated and authorized by subscribers as the attorney-in-fact having authority to obligate them on reciprocal insurance contracts. See Virginia Code 38.2-1201
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • 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
  • Individual: means any natural person who:

    1. See Virginia Code 38.2-602

  • Insurance institution: means any corporation, association, partnership, reciprocal exchange, inter-insurer, Lloyd's type of organization, fraternal benefit society, or other person engaged in the business of insurance, including health maintenance organizations, and health, legal, dental, and optometric service plans. See Virginia Code 38.2-602
  • Insurance-support organization: means any person who regularly engages, in whole or in part, in the practice of assembling or collecting information about natural persons for the primary purpose of providing the information to an insurance institution or agent for insurance transactions, including (i) the furnishing of consumer reports or investigative consumer reports to an insurance institution or agent for use in connection with an insurance transaction or (ii) the collection of personal information from insurance institutions, agents or other insurance-support organizations for the purpose of detecting or preventing fraud, material misrepresentation or material nondisclosure in connection with insurance underwriting or insurance claim activity. See Virginia Code 38.2-602
  • 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.
  • Person: means any association, aggregate of individuals, business, company, corporation, individual, joint-stock company, Lloyds type of organization, organization, partnership, receiver, reciprocal or interinsurance exchange, trustee or society. See Virginia Code 38.2-100

B. An insurance institution, agent, or insurance-support organization that discloses information in violation of § 38.2-613 shall be liable for damages sustained by the individual to whom the information relates. No individual, however, shall be entitled to a monetary award that exceeds the actual damages sustained by the individual as a result of a violation of § 38.2-613.

C. In any action brought pursuant to this section, the court may award the cost of the action and reasonable attorney‘s fees to the prevailing party.

D. An action under this section must be brought within two years from the date the alleged violation is or should have been discovered.

E. Except as specifically provided in this section, there shall be no remedy or recovery available to individuals, in law or in equity, for occurrences constituting a violation of any provision of this article.

1981, c. 389, § 38.1-57.24; 1986, c. 562; 2020, c. 264.

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