USA Statutes : alabama
Title : Title 27 INSURANCE.
Chapter : Chapter 09 ADJUSTERS.
Section 27-9-1Section 27-9-1
'Adjuster' defined.
(a) An 'adjuster' is a person who, for compensation as an independent contractor, or as the employee of such an independent contractor or for fee or commission, investigates and negotiates settlement of claims arising under insurance contracts on behalf of the insurer.
(b) The definition of adjuster shall not include, nor require, a license of the following:
(1) A licensed attorney-at-law who is qualified to practice law in this state; or
(2) A salaried employee of an insurer.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §183.)Section 27-9-2Section 27-9-2
License - Requirement; application; issuance; fee; firms and corporations.
(a) No person shall in this state act as, or hold himself out to be, an adjuster unless then licensed therefor under this chapter. Application for license shall be made to the commissioner according to forms as prescribed and furnished by him.
(b) The commissioner shall promptly issue a license to each person who has properly completed application therefor and who is qualified for the license under this chapter.
(c) At time of application for the license, the applicant shall tender to the commissioner the license fee specified in Section 27-4-2. If the license is refused, the commissioner shall refund the license fee to the applicant or person entitled thereto.
(d) Firms and corporations, as well as individuals, may be licensed as an adjuster. Each individual associated in such firm or corporation and who exercises, or proposes to exercise, license powers shall file application with the commissioner, pay the license fee and qualify as though for an individual license. The license issued to a firm or corporation shall list thereon all individuals who are thereby authorized to act as an adjuster or, in lieu thereof, the commissioner may issue a separate license as to each such individual.
(e) The license fee provided for in this section is payable to the state, as provided in Section 27-4-2, and no license or fee shall be paid to the county.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §184.)Section 27-9-3Section 27-9-3
License - Qualifications.
To be licensed as an adjuster, the applicant must be qualified therefor as follows:
(1) Must be an individual 19 years of age or more;
(2) Must be a resident in and of Alabama or resident of another state which will permit residents of Alabama regularly to act as adjusters in such other state;
(3) Must be a full-time salaried employee of a licensed adjuster, or a graduate of a recognized law school or must have had experience or special education or training as to the handling of loss claims under insurance contracts of sufficient duration and extent reasonably to make him competent to fulfill the responsibilities of an adjuster; and
(4) Must be trustworthy and of good character.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §185.)Section 27-9-4Section 27-9-4
License — Authority to act as adjuster without license.
No such adjuster's license, or qualifications therefor, shall be required as to any adjuster who is sent into this state by, and on behalf of, an insurer for the purpose of investigating or making adjustment of a particular loss of unique and unusual character under an insurance policy or for the adjustment of a series of losses resulting from a catastrophe common to all such losses and on behalf of, as authorized by, an insurer as to which he is licensed as agent under this title. An agent may, from time to time, act as an adjuster without a license as an adjuster, but no such agent shall act as an adjuster for an insurer with which he has a contract providing for compensation retrospectively contingent upon losses incurred under insurance sold or serviced by him.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §186.)Section 27-9-5Section 27-9-5
License - Continuation and expiration.
(a) An adjuster license shall continue in force until expired, suspended, revoked or otherwise terminated, but subject to payment to the commissioner annually, on or before December 31, of the continuation fee stated in Section 27-4-2, accompanied by written request for such continuation.
(b) Any license as to which the fee and request for continuation is not received by the commissioner as required in subsection (a) of this section, shall be deemed to have expired at midnight on December 31, mentioned in subsection (a) of this section. Request for continuation of any such license and/or payment of the continuation fee therefor which is received by the commissioner after such December 31, but before the next following February 15, may be accepted and effectuated by the commissioner, in his discretion, if accompanied by a continuation fee of one and one-half times the continuation fee otherwise required.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §187.)Section 27-9-6Section 27-9-6
License - Suspension, revocation or refusal to continue.
(a) The commissioner may suspend for not more than 12 months or may revoke or refuse to continue any adjuster license if, after a hearing held on not less than 20 days' advance notice to the licensee of such hearing and of the charges against him by registered or certified mail as provided in subsection (c) of Section 27-2-18, he finds that as to the licensee any one or more of the following causes exist:
(1) For any cause for which issuance of the license could have been refused had it then existed and been known to the commissioner;
(2) For obtaining or attempting to obtain any such license through misrepresentation or fraud;
(3) For violation of or noncompliance with any applicable provision of this title or for willful violation of any lawful rule, regulation or order of the commissioner;
(4) For misappropriation or conversion to his own use or illegal withholding of moneys or property belonging to policyholders, or insurers, or beneficiaries or others and received in conduct of business under the license;
(5) Conviction, by final judgment, of a felony involving moral turpitude; or
(6) If in the conduct of his affairs under the license the licensee has used fraudulent or dishonest practices or has shown himself to be incompetent or untrustworthy.
(b) The license of a firm or corporation may be suspended, revoked or refused also for any of such causes as relate to any individual designated in the license to exercise its powers.
(c) Any party to the hearing, referred to in subsection (a) of this section, who is aggrieved by the suspension, revocation or refusal to continue a license may appeal from the commissioner's order relative thereto as provided in Section 27-2-32.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §189.)Section 27-9-7Section 27-9-7
License - Return to commissioner; affidavit in lieu thereof.
(a) All licenses issued under this chapter, although issued and delivered to the licensee, shall at all times be the property of the State of Alabama. Upon any expiration, termination, suspension or revocation of the license, the licensee, or other person having possession or custody of the license, shall forthwith deliver it to the commissioner either by personal delivery or by mail.
(b) As to any license lost, stolen or destroyed while in the possession of any such licensee or person, the commissioner may accept in lieu of return of the license the affidavit of the licensee or other person responsible for, or involved in, the safekeeping of such license concerning the facts of such loss, theft or destruction.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §190.)Section 27-9-8Section 27-9-8
Office and records of licensee.
Each adjuster must have and maintain in this state an office accessible to the public and keep therein the usual and customary records pertaining to transactions under the license. Records relative to a particular transaction shall be so retained for not less than one year thereafter. This section shall not be deemed to prohibit maintenance of such an office in the home of the licensee. The license of the adjuster shall show the address of his office, and the licensee shall promptly give written notice to the commissioner of any change of such address.
(Acts 1971, No. 407, p. 707, §188.) 
