Colorado § 10-2-704 - Fiduciary responsibilities.

§ 10-2-704. Fiduciary responsibilities.

(1) (a) All premiums belonging to insurers and all unearned premiums belonging to insureds received by an insurance producer licensee under this article shall be treated by such insurance producer in a fiduciary capacity. The commissioner may promulgate such rules as are necessary and proper relating to the treatment of such premiums.

(b) All premiums received, less commissions if authorized, shall be remitted to the insurer or its agent entitled thereto on or before the contractual due date or, if there is no contractual due date, within forty-five days after receipt.

(c) All returned premiums received from insurers or credited by insurers to the account of the licensee shall be remitted to or credited to the account of the person entitled thereto within thirty days after such receipt or credit.

(d) If any insurance producer has failed to account for any collected premium to the insurer to whom it is owing or to its agent entitled thereto for more than forty-five days after the contractual due date or, if there is no contractual due date, more than ninety days after receipt, the insurer or its agent shall promptly report such failure to the commissioner in writing.

(2) Every insurer shall remit unearned premiums to the insured or the proper agent, or shall otherwise credit the account of the proper licensee, as soon as is practicable after entitlement thereto has been established, but in no event more than forty-five days after the effective date of any cancellation or termination effected by the insurer or after the date of entitlement thereto as established by notification of cancellation or of termination or as otherwise established. It shall be the responsibility of any insurance producer having knowledge of a failure on the part of any insurer to comply with this subsection (2) to promptly report such failure to the commissioner in writing.

(3) No insurance producer under this article shall commingle premiums belonging to insurers and returned premiums belonging to insureds with the producer's personal funds or with any other funds except those directly connected with the producer's insurance business.

(4) Any insurer that delivers, in this state, a policy of insurance to an insurance producer representing the interest of the insured upon the application or request of such producer shall be deemed to have authorized such producer to receive on the insurer's behalf any premium due upon issuance or delivery of the policy; and the insurer shall be deemed to have so authorized the producer.

Source: L. 93: Entire article R&RE, p. 1370, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 2001: (4) amended, p. 1210, § 32, effective January 1, 2002.

ANNOTATION

Bail bonding agent's acceptance of money from defendant's mother to bail out defendant did not establish a fiduciary relationship because defendant was not the insured, and, therefore, defendant's mother was not the proper agent of the insured to whom the bail bonding agent owed a fiduciary duty under the statute. The statute does not define "insured", but, applying common law principles of surety, the court and not the defendant would be the insured because (1) the court is the entity to whom the bail bonding agent is bound, and (2) the court, when it permits bail, is essentially insuring itself through the bail bonding agent against the loss that would result if the defendant failed to appear. Trujillo v. Colo. Div. of Ins., 2014 CO 17, 320 P.3d 1208.