Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...ce may levy a fine as a penalty for noncompliance. See, e.g., § 624.310(5), Fla. Stat. (2009) (allowing the Department *553 to impose a fine “against any person found in the proceeding to have violated any provision of the Insurance Code”); id. § 624.4211(1) (allowing the Department to impose a fine on an insurance company instead of suspending or revoking a certificate of authority)....

...The legislature has also on occasion made the penalty a fine from the Department of Insurance. See, e.g., Section 624.310(5) (allowing the Department of Insurance to impose a fine "against any person found in the proceeding to have violated any provision of the Insurance Code"); Section 624.4211 (allowing the Department *1257 of Insurance to impose a fine on an insurance company instead of suspending or revoking a certificate of authority)....

...Insurance may levy a fine as a penalty for noncompliance. See, e.g., § 624.310(5), Fla. Stat. (2009) (allowing the Department to impose a fine “against any person found in the proceeding to have violated any provision of the Insurance Code”); id. § 624.4211(1) (allowing the Department to impose a fine on an insurance company instead of suspending or revoking a certificate of authority)....

...art I of that chapter dealing with "Rates and Rating Organizations." Section 627.381(1) states that "[t]he department may, if it finds that any person or organization has violated any provision of this part, impose an administrative fine pursuant to s. 624.4211....

...partment... ." (Emphasis added.) Chapter 627 deals with the establishment of insurance rates, rating organizations, and provisions required by law to be included in insurance contracts; none of its provisions relate to disciplining insurance agents. Section 624.4211 is found in Part III of the initial chapter of the Florida Insurance Code, entitled "Administration and General Provisions." Part III, entitled "Authorization of Insurers and General Requirements," deals with the regulation of insurers, not agents in the field. Section 624.4211(1) provides that, "[i]f the department finds that one or more grounds exist for the discretionary revocation or suspension of a certificate of authority issued under this chapter, the department may, in lieu of such revocation or suspension, impose a fine upon the insurer....

...r concern and sympathize with him and the Department for having to attempt enforcement of such poorly drafted and confusing legislation. Nevertheless, even after traversing from section 626.9541 to section 626.9521 to section 627.381, thence back to section 624.4211 we have found that section 624.4211 only authorizes the imposition of a fine in lieu of suspension or revocation, the same as section 626.681. Hence, section 624.4211, even if it can be said to govern the penalties for insurance agents, operates to preclude the assessment of fines when actual suspension is mandated. More importantly, however, we conclude that the penalties in section 624.4211 are not applicable to insurance agents licensed and being disciplined under chapter 626. We agree with Dyer's argument that the exceptionally large fines authorized in section 624.4211, when considered in context with the explicit language in subparagraph (1) thereof authorizing imposition of these fines "upon an insurer" and the limits on fines to be imposed on insurance agents contained in section 626.681, leave the statutory scheme sufficiently ambiguous that a strict construction of the statutory language requires that we hold that the penalty in section 624.4211 is inapplicable to individual insurance agents like Dyer. This conclusion is further reinforced by the fact that there is no ostensible need for a reference to section 626.9521, thence to section 627.381, thence to section 624.4211, to find statutory authority for penalizing an offending insurance agent's violation of the unfair trade practices prohibited in Part X....

...oche return the build-up funds, the ALJ recommended that as long as the circuit court order remained in effect, the Department could not establish that Roche was in willful violation of section 648.29(3) for failure to return the build-up funds. See § 624.4211(4), Fla....

...ding the build-up funds notwithstanding its knowledge of David’s discharge of his liabilities. Accordingly, it concluded that Roche’s viola *1141 tion of section 648.29(3) was knowing and willful and, therefore, imposed a penalty of $10,000. See § 624.4211(3)....

...We agree with the ALJ’s finding that the existence of the circuit court order prevented the Department from establishing that Roche was in willful violation of section 648.29(3). We add that our review of the Department’s interpretation of the willful requirement in section 624.4211(4) must be governed by the principle of statutory construction that penal statutes shall be strictly construed in favor of the person against whom the penalty could be imposed....