215 ILCS 5/155.35 — Illinois Code / Chapter 215 / Act 5 / Section 155.35
Section 155.35
Status: in_force

(215 ILCS 5/155.35) Sec. 155.35. Insurance compliance self-evaluative privilege. (a) To encourage insurance companies and persons conducting activities regulated under this Code, both to conduct voluntary internal audits of their compliance programs and management systems and to assess and improve compliance with State and federal statutes, rules, and orders, an insurance compliance self-evaluative privilege is recognized to protect the confidentiality of communications relating to voluntary internal compliance audits. The General Assembly hereby finds and declares that protection of insurance consumers is enhanced by companies' voluntary compliance with this State's insurance and other laws and that the public will benefit from incentives to identify and remedy insurance and other compliance issues. It is further declared that limited expansion of the protection against disclosure will encourage voluntary compliance and improve insurance market conduct quality and that the voluntary provisions of this Section will not inhibit the exercise of the regulatory authority by those entrusted with protecting insurance consumers. (b)(1) An insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document is privileged information and is not admissible as evidence in any legal action in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding, except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this Section. Documents, communications, data, reports, or other information created as a result of a claim involving personal injury or workers' compensation made against an insurance policy are not insurance compliance self-evaluative audit documents and are admissible as evidence in civil proceedings as otherwise provided by applicable rules of evidence or civil procedure, subject to any applicable statutory or common law privilege, including, but not limited to, the work product doctrine, the attorney-client privilege, or the subsequent remedial measures exclusion. (2) If any company, person, or entity performs or directs the performance of an insurance compliance audit, an officer or employee involved with the insurance compliance audit, or any consultant who is hired for the purpose of performing the insurance compliance audit, may not be examined in any civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding as to the insurance compliance audit or any insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document, as defined in this Section. This subsection (b)(2) does not apply if the privilege set forth in subsection (b)(1) of this Section is determined under subsection (c) or (d) not to apply. (3) A company may voluntarily submit, in connection with examinations conducted under this Article, an insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document to the Director, or his or her designee, as a confidential document under subsection (i) of Section 132 or subsection (f) of Section 132.5 of this Code without waiving the privilege set forth in this Section to which the company would otherwise be entitled; provided, however, that the provisions in Sections 132 and 132.5 permitting the Director to make confidential documents public and grant access to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners shall not apply to the insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document so voluntarily submitted. Nothing contained in this subsection shall give the Director any authority to compel a company to disclose involuntarily or otherwise provide an insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document. (c)(1) The privilege set forth in subsection (b) of this Section does not apply to the extent that it is expressly waived by the company that prepared or caused to be prepared the insurance compliance self-evaluative audit document. (2) In a civil or administrative proceeding, a court of record may, after an in camera review, require disclosure of material for which the privilege set forth in subsection (b) of this Section is asserted, if the court determines one of the following: (A) the privilege is asserted for a fraudulent purpose; (B) the material is not subject to the privilege; or (C) even if subject to the privilege, the material shows evidence of noncompliance with