Revised Statutes of Newfoundland 1990 Chapter I-8

(i) on behalf of an insurer or an insured, for or in expectation of fee, gain or reward, directly or indirectly solicits the right to negotiate the settlement of or investigate a loss or claim under a contract or a fidelity, surety or guaranty bond issued by an insurer, or investigates, adjusts or settles a loss or claim, or

(ii) holds himself or herself out as an adjuster, investigator, consultant or adviser with respect to the settlement of losses or claims referred to in subparagraph (i),

but does not include a person referred to in section 3;

(b) "adjuster's licence" means a licence to act as an adjuster;

(c) "contract" means a contract of insurance and includes an instrument containing the terms of the contract, an interim receipt, renewal receipt or other writing evidencing the contract, whether under seal or not, and a binding oral agreement;

(d) "fidelity bond" means

(i) a promise to make good financial loss resulting from the dishonesty of employees, or

(ii) a financial guarantee of the performance of an implied obligation;

(e) "guarantee bond" means a promise to perform an agreement or contract or to discharge a trust, duty or obligation upon default of a person liable for that performance or discharge or to pay money upon that default or instead of that performance or discharge or where there is loss or damage through that default;

(f) "insurance" means a contract whereby 1 party, called the insurer, undertakes for a valuable consideration to indemnify the other, called the insured, against loss or liability from certain risks or perils to which the object of the insurance may be exposed or from the occurrence of a certain event;

(g) "licence" means a licence which has been issued or renewed under this Act and which has not expired or been suspended or revoked;

(h) "motor vehicle liability policy" means a policy or that part of a policy which insures the owner or driver of a motor vehicle against liability for loss or damage to persons or property;

(i) "public liability insurance policy" means a policy or that part of a policy which insures a person against loss of or damage to the person or property of others where the insurance is not included in or incidental to some other class of insurance;

(j) "student" means a person who is studying to become qualified as an adjuster;

(k) "student's licence" means a licence to be a student;

(l) "superintendent" means the Superintendent of Insurance;

(m) "surety bond" means a guarantee of the performance of an expressed obligation.

RSN1970 c175 s2

3. This Act does not apply to

(a) a barrister or solicitor who is practising in the province and who is acting in the usual course of his or her profession;

(b) a trustee or agent of the owner of property insured;

(c) a general agent or salaried employee of a licensed insurer while acting on behalf of that insurer in the adjustment of losses;

(d) a person who is employed as an appraiser, engineer or other expert solely for the purpose of giving expert advice or evidence;

(e) a person who acts as an adjuster of marine losses only;

(f) a person who assists the insured in an adjustment of his or her loss; or

(g) a person other than a student or a person referred to in subsection 7(4) who assists in the adjustment of a loss as an employee only of an adjuster.

RSN1970 c175 s3

4. (1) An applicant for a licence or renewal of a licence shall file with the superintendent a written application which shall be in the form that the superintendent requires and which, if the superintendent requires, shall be made under oath or affirmation.

(2) An applicant for a licence, other than a company, shall in addition to filing an application in accordance with subsection (1) file with the superintendent a statement as to his or her trustworthiness and competency and the statement shall be signed by at least 3 reputable persons who reside in the province.

(3) A partnership or a company may in accordance with this Act apply for an adjuster's licence.

(4) Each member of a partnership which applies for a licence and each officer of a company who is to act on behalf of the company if a licence is issued to it shall file a statement in accordance with subsection (2).

(5) An application for a student's licence shall be approved by a licensed adjuster who shall signify his or her approval by countersigning the application.

RSN1970 c175 s4

5. (1) The superintendent may, if he or she is satisfied that an applicant is a suitable person to be licensed as an adjuster or student, and if the applicant pays the appropriate fee and complies with section 4, issue to the applicant a licence to act as an adjuster or student or renew that licence.

(2) The Lieutenant-Governor in Council shall by order fix the fees payable in respect of the issue or renewal, or the providing of a copy, of licences by the superintendent under this Act, and the fee appropriate to the licence so issued or renewed shall be paid to the superintendent before he or she issues or renews the licence or provides a copy of it.

(3) An order made under subsection (2) is subordinate legislation for the purposes of the Statutes and Subordinate Legislation Act.

RSN1970 c175 s5; 1974 No6 s2

6. (1) The superintendent may issue an adjuster's licence to a partnership which is doing business in the province.

(2) A licence issued under this section shall specify the partners who may act under it.

(3) Where a partnership is dissolved or otherwise terminated before a licence issued under this section expires, the partners shall immediately notify the superintendent who shall immediately revoke the licence.

RSN1970 c175 s6

7. (1) The superintendent may issue an adjuster's licence to a company where

(a) the company is incorporated for the purpose of acting as an insurance adjuster or for that and other purposes;

(b) the head office of the company is in Canada; and

(2) Where the principal business of a company licensed under this section is not the business of an insurance adjuster, the superintendent may, for the purposes of this Act,

(a) require the company to provide him or her with information respecting the company, its officers and affairs; and

(b) make examination of the books and affairs of the company,

that he or she considers necessary.

(3) A licence issued under this section shall specify the officers who may act under the licence in the name and on behalf of the company.

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (3) and unless the superintendent otherwise directs, an employee of a company to which a licence is issued who

(a) receives only a salary from the company; and

(b) acts only in the name and on behalf of the company,

may act in the name and on behalf of the company by authority of the licence even though he or she is not named in the licence.

(5) Where a company which has been licensed under this section is dissolved or wound up or its charter is cancelled or where it ceases doing business in the province, the company, by its principal officers, the liquidator or trustee shall notify the superintendent in writing and upon receipt of the notice the superintendent shall immediately revoke the licence.

(6) A licence issued under this section, the company to which it is issued, each officer of the company named in the licence and each employee of the company referred to in subsection (4) are subject to this Act.

RSN1970 c175 s7

8. The superintendent may attach to a licence the limitations or conditions that he or she considers appropriate.

RSN1970 c175 s8

9. (1) The superintendent shall not issue a licence to a person who is an agent as defined in the Life and Accident Insurance Agents Licensing Act and if a licence is issued contrary to this subsection it shall not be or be considered to be a licence issued under this Act.

(2) The superintendent shall not issue a licence to a person, partnership or company whose licence has been revoked until at least 1 year after the date of the revocation and unless that person, partnership or company complies with section 4.

(3) Where the superintendent has revoked a licence issued to a partnership or a company in respect of a partner or officer of the company he or she shall not restore to the appropriate licence the name of that partner or officer until at least 1 year after the date of the revocation and unless the partner or officer complies with section 4.

RSN1970 c175 s9

10. A licence expires on December 31 in the year in which it is issued unless it is sooner revoked or suspended.

RSN1970 c175 s10

11. (1) The superintendent shall keep in his or her office a record of licences which he or she issues or renews.

(2) The record kept under subsection (1) shall at reasonable times be open for inspection on payment of a fee of $2 for each inspection.

RSN1970 c175 s12

12. The superintendent may, as he or she considers appropriate, publish in the Gazette a list of persons to whom licences have been issued or whose licences have been renewed.

RSN1970 c175 s13

13. (1) The superintendent may suspend or revoke a licence.

(2) A licence issued to

(a) a partnership may be suspended or revoked in respect of the partnership or partner specified in the licence; or

(b) a company may be suspended or revoked in respect of the company or an officer specified in the licence.

(3) In determining the revocation or suspension of a licence the superintendent may and if requested by the licensee to do so shall appoint an advisory board which shall consist of

(a) a representative of insurers;

(b) a representative of adjusters; and

and which shall hold hearings that it considers necessary and make a report to the superintendent with the recommendations that it considers appropriate.

(4) The superintendent is not bound by and may disregard a report, recommendation or advice of the advisory board and nothing in subsection (3) limits, abridges, impairs or derogates from the powers and duties conferred or imposed upon the superintendent by this Act.

(5) The representative of the superintendent is the chairperson of the advisory board and for the purpose of his or her duties under subsection (3) he or she has the powers of a commissioner appointed under the Public Inquiries Act.

(6) Each member of the advisory board shall be paid actual and reasonable expenses which he or she incurs in the performance of his or her duties as a member of the board and each member other than a public employee may be paid for his or her services the remuneration that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council fixes.

RSN1970 c175 s14

14. (1) Where the superintendent refuses to issue a licence or suspends or revokes a licence he or she shall in writing notify the applicant whose application he or she has refused or the person whose licence he or she has suspended or revoked and state his or her reasons for the refusal, suspension or revocation.

(2) A person who considers himself or herself aggrieved by a refusal, suspension or revocation referred to in subsection (1) may within 2 weeks after the date of notification given under that subsection appeal to the Minister of Justice who may confirm the action of the superintendent appealed against or direct a licence to be issued or restored.

RSN1970 c175 s15; 1981 c4 Sch C; 1984 c41 Sch C; 1989 c19 Sch B

15. (1) An adjuster shall not employ as a student a person who does not hold a student's licence.

(2) A student may be employed by only 1 adjuster whose name shall be specified in the student's licence and who, unless the services of the student are transferred under subsection (3), shall be the adjuster who approved the application for the licence.

(3) A student who transfers his or her services from 1 adjuster to another shall immediately notify the superintendent who, if he or she is satisfied with the transfer, may endorse on the licence held by the student a memorandum of the change, including the name of the adjuster to whom the services are transferred.

(4) Where a student

(a) ceases to be employed by the adjuster whose name is specified in his or her licence; or

(b) transfers his or her services from 1 adjuster to another and the superintendent is not satisfied with the transfer,

the licence held by that student is considered to be suspended for the purpose of this Act and the holder shall immediately return the licence to the superintendent who may, if it has not expired, issue it again to the holder when he or she becomes employed with an adjuster to the satisfaction of the superintendent.

RSN1970 c175 s16

16. Where an adjuster in adjusting a loss of or damage to property by fire finds that there is over-insurance upon the property or finds that there are circumstances which indicate that there is over-insurance upon the property, he or she shall report his or her findings in writing to the fire commissioner appointed under the Fire Prevention Act and to the superintendent, together with information on circumstances which indicate that an offence has been committed against the law of the province or Canada.

RSN1970 c175 s17

17. Where an adjuster on behalf of an insurer enters into negotiations with a person having a claim against an insured for which indemnity is provided by a motor vehicle liability policy or a policy of public liability insurance issued by the insurer, the adjuster shall disclose to the claimant the name and address of the insurer.

RSN1970 c175 s18

18. A person shall not on behalf of himself or herself or another person directly or indirectly

(a) solicit the right to negotiate, or negotiate or attempt to negotiate, for or in expectation of fee, gain or reward, the settlement of a claim for loss or damage arising out of a motor vehicle accident resulting in bodily injury to or death of a person or damage to property, on behalf of a claimant; or

(b) hold himself or herself out as an adjuster, investigator, consultant or otherwise as an adviser, on behalf of a person having a claim against an assured for which indemnity is provided by a motor vehicle liability policy.

RSN1970 c175 s19

19. Notwithstanding another statute or law, an adjuster or student shall not for the purposes of this Act

(a) examine or purport to examine a person under oath or affirmation;

(b) request or cause another person to examine or purport to examine a person under oath or affirmation; or

(c) administer an oath or affirmation in respect of a claim under an insurance policy except to a claimant who is proving a claim for the purpose of receiving payment of the proceeds of the policy.

RSN1970 c175 s20

20. (1) A person who

(a) not being the holder of a licence; or

(b) while his or her licence is suspended or after it has been revoked or after it has expired and before it has been renewed,

acts as or represents or holds himself or herself out to be an adjuster or student or who, being the holder of a licence which is in force, by any means, acts as or represents or holds himself or herself out to be an adjuster or student in a name other than that stated in his or her licence is guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who violates a provision of this Act or of a condition on a licence or to which the licence is made subject is guilty of an offence.

(3) A member of a partnership which has been licensed who violates a provision of this Act or of a condition on a licence or to which the licence is made subject is guilty of an offence.

(4) An officer specified in a licence issued to a company and an employee of a company referred to in subsection 7(4) who violates a provision of this Act or of a condition on the licence or to which the licence is made subject is guilty of an offence and is personally liable for the offence, even though the violation is committed in the name and on behalf of the company, and if the violation is committed in the name and on behalf of the company and the responsibility cannot be placed on an officer or employee referred to in this subsection, the company is guilty of the offence.

(5) A person who is guilty of an offence under this Act is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000 and in default of payment to imprisonment for a term of not more than 6 months or to both a fine and imprisonment.

RSN1970 c175 s21