A. An insurer shall pay promptly claims arising under its policies with checks or drafts, or, if a claimant requests, may pay by electronic transfer of funds. Without amending other statutes dealing with checks, drafts or electronic transfer of funds, a resident of New Mexico is granted a cause of action for ten percent of the amount of any check, draft or electronic transfer of funds that is not paid or lawfully rejected within ten days of forwarding by a New Mexico financial institution, but in no case to be less than five hundred dollars ($500) plus costs of suit and attorney fees. The insurer shall not be required to pay such civil damages for delay if it proves that the delay in processing and payment was caused by a financial institution or postal or delivery service and the check, draft or electronic transfer of funds was paid or lawfully rejected within forty-eight hours of actual receipt of the draft, check or electronic transfer of funds by the person on whom drawn.

B. Notwithstanding any provision of the Insurance Code, any insurer issuing any policy, certificate or contract of insurance, surety, guaranty or indemnity of any kind or nature that fails for a period of forty-five days, after required proof of loss has been furnished, to pay to the person entitled the amount justly due shall be liable for the amount due and unpaid with interest on that amount at the rate of one and one-half times the prime lending rate, as determined by the superintendent, for New Mexico banks per year during the period the claim is unpaid.

C. Subsection B of this section shall not apply to any claims in arbitration or litigation.

History: Laws 1984, ch. 127, § 287; 1986, ch. 109, § 2; 1987, ch. 259, § 17; 2017, ch. 15, § 1; 2017, ch. 130, § 12.

Cross references. — For the Insurance Code, see 59A-1-1 NMSA 1978 and notes thereto.

2017 Multiple Amendments. — Laws 2017, ch. 15, § 1, effective June 16, 2017, and Laws 2017, ch. 130, § 12, effective July 1, 2017, enacted different amendments to this section that can be reconciled. Pursuant to 12-1-8 NMSA 1978, Laws 2017, ch. 130, § 12, as the last act signed by the governor is set out above and incorporates both amendments. The amendments enacted by Laws 2017, ch. 15, § 1 and Laws 2017, ch. 130, § 12 are described below. To view the session laws in their entirety, see the 2017 session laws on NMOneSource.com.

The nature of the difference between the amendments is that Laws 2017, ch. 15, § 1, provided for electronic claims payment by insurers, and made technical changes, and Laws 2017, ch. 130, § 12, authorized insurers to pay claims by electronic fund transfer.

Laws 2017, ch. 130, § 12, effective July 1, 2017, authorized insurers to pay claims by electronic fund transfer, and added "or electronic transfer of funds" throughout the section; in the catchline, added "or electronic transfer"; in Subsection A, after "checks or drafts", deleted "which", added "or, if a claimant requests, may pay by electronic transfer of funds, that", after "costs of suit and", changed "attorneys'" to "attorney"; and in Subsection B, after "indemnity of any kind or nature", deleted "which" and added "that".

Laws 2017, ch. 15, § 1, effective June 16, 2017, provided for electronic claims payment by insurers, and added "electronic transfer of funds" throughout the section; in the catchline, added "or electronic transfer"; in Subsection A, after "shall pay", added "promptly", after "checks or drafts", deleted "which are promptly paid" and added "or, if a claimant requests, may pay by electronic transfers", after "plus costs of suit and", deleted "attorneys'" and added "attorney"; and in Subsection B, after "indemnity of any kind or nature", deleted "which" and added "that".