(a) Any authorized employee of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Department of Motor Vehicles or a local police department may in writing request any insurance company to release to such employee information relative to any investigation it has made concerning a motor vehicle's loss or potential loss or any information relating to fraud or potential fraud in any claim under a motor vehicle insurance policy. Any insurance company, on its own initiative, may provide and disclose information relating to fraud or potential fraud to such authorized persons. Such information shall include, but not be limited to: (1) An insurance policy relative to such loss, (2) policy premium records, (3) history of previous claims, and (4) other relevant material relating to such loss or potential loss or to such fraud or potential fraud.

(b) Any insurance company so requested shall furnish such information to any such employee and shall permit the Insurance Commissioner or the commissioner's designee and any person ordered by a court to inspect its records pertaining to the policy and loss. Any insurance company may request any such employee to release information relative to any departmental investigation concerning the loss. Any information obtained relative to fraud or potential fraud may be disclosed to any central reporting bureau and any law enforcement agency.

(c) On or before March thirty-first of each year, each insurance company shall provide the Insurance Commissioner annual reports detailing all information received or investigations conducted by such company during the past year concerning insurance fraud in any claim under a motor vehicle insurance policy. Such reports shall be filed in a manner prescribed by the commissioner.

(d) In the absence of fraud, malice or criminal act, no insurance company, authorized employee or person who furnished information on behalf of such company or department, shall be liable for damages in a civil action or subject to criminal prosecution for any oral or written statement made pursuant to the provisions of this section.

(e) Information furnished pursuant to this section shall be held in confidence until its release is required pursuant to a criminal or civil proceeding.

(P.A. 80-292, S. 13; P.A. 82-23; P.A. 00-211, S. 4; P.A. 01-5; P.A. 11-51, S. 134.)

History: P.A. 82-23 added provisions regarding the disclosure of information relating to fraud or potential fraud in motor vehicle insurance claims; Sec. 38-175v transferred to Sec. 38a-356 in 1991; P.A. 00-211 amended Subsec. (b) to permit inspection by the commissioner or his designee, inserted a new Subsec. (c) requiring insurance companies to submit annual reports to the commissioner detailing all information received or investigations conducted during the past year concerning insurance fraud, and redesignated former Subsecs. (c) and (d) as (d) and (e), respectively; P.A. 01-5 amended Subsec. (c) to substitute “March thirty-first of each year” for “December 15, 2000, and on or before each July thirty-first thereafter” re annual report filings; pursuant to P.A. 11-51, “Department of Public Safety” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.

See Sec. 14-16c re insurance companies' duties re totalled vehicles and certificates of title.