Colorado § 8-44-102 - Contract for insurance subject to workers' compensation act.

§ 8-44-102. Contract for insurance subject to workers' compensation act.

(1) Every contract for the insurance of compensation and benefits as provided in articles 40 to 47 of this title or against liability therefor is subject to articles 40 to 47 of this title, and all provisions in the contract for insurance inconsistent with those articles are void. Any contract of insurance issued under articles 40 to 47 of this title by any insurance carrier, including stock and mutual corporations and Pinnacol Assurance, may include and cover any liability of the employer on account of personal injuries sustained by or death resulting therefrom to any employee.

(2) (a) (I) Except as specified in subparagraph (III) of this paragraph (a), every carrier providing workers' compensation insurance that is authorized to conduct business in Colorado shall submit an annual report to the commissioner of insurance listing any policy forms as may be requested by the commissioner. The listing must be submitted no later than July 1 of each year and must contain a certification by an officer of the carrier that, to the best of the officer's knowledge, each policy form in use complies with Colorado law. The commissioner shall determine the necessary elements of the certification.

(II) (A) An advisory organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (1), C.R.S., or a rating organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (3), C.R.S., shall submit an annual report to the commissioner of insurance listing any policy forms as may be requested by the commissioner. The listing must be submitted no later than July 1 of each year and must contain a certification by an officer of the organization that, to the best of the officer's knowledge, each policy form listed complies with Colorado law. The commissioner shall determine the necessary elements of the certification.

(B) As used in this section, "form" may include any endorsement, rider, letter, notice, or other document affecting an insurance policy or contract issued or delivered to any policyholder in Colorado.

(III) If a carrier uses, in their entirety and without modification, forms prepared by an advisory organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (1), C.R.S., or a rating organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (3), C.R.S., the carrier shall notify the commissioner of insurance that it adopts the annual report filed by the advisory organization or rating organization under subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (a) and, if it so notifies the commissioner, it need not submit the certification required by subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a). If a carrier uses forms that deviate from the forms listed by the advisory organization or rating organization, or if it uses forms other than those listed by the advisory organization or rating organization, the carrier shall submit the annual listing of forms and certification as required by subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a).

(b) In addition to submitting the documentation required under paragraph (a) of this subsection (2) and except as specified in subparagraph (III) of this paragraph (b):

(I) Every carrier providing workers' compensation insurance that is authorized to conduct business in Colorado, every advisory organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (1), C.R.S., and every rating organization as defined in section 10-4-402 (3), C.R.S., shall submit to the commissioner a list of any new or revised policy forms as may be requested by the commissioner at least thirty-one days before a carrier uses the forms. Unless a carrier notifies the division of insurance otherwise, policy forms submitted on behalf of a member of an advisory organization or rating organization are deemed to be automatically adopted by the carrier without modification.

(II) The listing must also contain a certification by an officer of the carrier or an officer of the advisory or rating organization that, to the best of the officer's knowledge, each new or revised policy form, endorsement, rider, letter, notice, or other document proposed to be used complies with Colorado law. The commissioner shall determine the necessary elements of the certification.

(III) If an advisory organization or rating organization certifies a form as required by subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (b) and a carrier is a member of that organization and uses the form in its entirety, the carrier need not list that form as required by subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (b) or submit a certification for that form as required by subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (b).

(c) The commissioner may examine and investigate workers' compensation carriers authorized to conduct business in Colorado to determine whether workers' compensation policy forms, as may be requested by the commissioner, comply with the certification of the carrier and statutory mandates.

Source: L. 90: Entire article R&RE, p. 521, § 1, effective July 1. L. 93: Entire section amended, p. 455, § 2, effective April 19. L. 2002: Entire section amended, p. 1884, § 34, effective July 1. L. 2003: Entire section amended, p. 2200, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2014: Entire section amended, (SB 14-137), ch. 78, p. 316, § 1, effective August 6. L. 2016: (2) amended, (SB 16-198), ch. 257, p. 1054, § 1, effective June 8.

Editor's note: (1) This section is similar to former § 8-44-102 as it existed prior to 1990.

(2) The provisions of Pinnacol Assurance are contained in article 45 of this title 8.

ANNOTATION

Annotator's note. Cases included in the annotations to this section which refer to the industrial commission were decided prior to the 1969 amendment which vested the commissioner of insurance with the power previously exercised by the industrial commission to prescribe the form of the workmen's compensation insurance contract.

The common law rule that working partners are ineligible for workers' compensation as employees of the partnership or joint venture has been modified in this section permitting working partners to elect workers' compensation coverage. Hancock Const. Co. v. Cummins, 791 P.2d 1208 (Colo. App. 1990).

Provision that industrial commission shall prescribe form of contract is not unconstitutional. That part of this section providing that the industrial commission shall prescribe the form of contract of insurance for use in insuring compensation is administrative only, and not unconstitutional as delegating legislative power. Travelers Ins. Co. v. Indus. Comm'n, 71 Colo. 495, 208 P. 465 (1922).

To "prescribe" means to dictate, to positively command. Travelers Ins. Co. v. Indus. Comm'n, 71 Colo. 495, 208 P. 465 (1922).

Policy held not to cover death of employer who worked with his men. Indus. Comm'n v. Bracken, 83 Colo. 72, 262 P. 521 (1927).

This section does not require that an operating owner endorse himself as an employee in his insurance contract, and no sanctions attach if the owner does not include himself as an insured. Oliver Const. Co., Inc. v. Indus. Comm'n, 680 P.2d 1308 (Colo. App. 1983).

Where two parties were engaged in a joint venture as a subcontractor of the general contractor, a working co-partner was properly exempted from liability and the general contractor held liable under subsection (1), where that working co-partner's insurance policy did not include coverage for the other, decedent, working co-partner as authorized under this section. Hancock Const. Co. v. Cummins, 791 P.2d 1208 (Colo. App. 1990).

A leased driver is not an employee for the purposes of workers' compensation because § 8-40-301 (5)(b) is an exception to the more general workers' compensation statutes. Scott v. Matlack, Inc., 1 P.3d 185 (Colo. App. 1999), rev'd on other grounds, 39 P.3d 1160 (Colo. 2002).