Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...r is to be appointed in delinquency proceedings for an insurer not domiciled in this state, the court shall appoint the commissioner as ancillary receiver. The commissioner shall file a petition requesting the appointment on the grounds set forth in § 631.091: (a) If he finds that there are sufficient assets of the insurer located in this state to justify the appointment of an ancillary receiver, or (b) If ten or more persons resident in this state having claims against such insurer file a peti...

...ders (section 631.101), and liquidation orders (section 631.111). Additionally, section 631.071 authorizes the appointment of an ancillary receiver to conserve the assets of a foreign insurer if grounds for rehabilitation or liquidation exist, while section 631.091 authorizes the appointment of an ancillary receiver to liquidate the assets of a foreign insurer only when a receiver has been appointed in the domiciliary state "for the purpose of liquidating the business of such insurer." Florida Insurance Guaranty Ass'n v....

...ourt. "Delinquency proceedings" were pending in the State of Michigan under the Michigan "Uniform Insurers Liquidation Act", but no "custodian" or "receiver" had been appointed. Ancillary "delinquency proceedings" had not been instituted in Florida. Section 631.091, Florida Statutes, F.S.A....

...urer. Because Puerto Rico appointed its commissioner of insurance as Central's domiciliary receiver for purposes of liquidating the company, the department was entitled to seek appointment as Central's ancillary receiver for purposes of liquidation. § 631.091, Fla....

...within the statutory authority vested in the court under Chapter 631, Part I, Florida Statutes, the "Insurer's Rehabilitation and Liquidation Act" (IRLA). Resolution of this issue requires, initially, interpretation and construction particularly of Section 631.091, Florida Statutes. FIGA contends that the sole authority for an order of liquidation of a foreign insurer is found in Section 631.091, and that under this section a Florida court has no authority to order liquidation of a foreign insurer (such as Main) unless and until a receiver (or similar officer) has first been appointed in the insolvent insurer's domiciliary state (in this case — Illinois) "for the purpose of liquidating the business of such insurer." Section 631.091....

...the Department, "shall constitute the sole and exclusive method of liquidating ... an insurer, ..." Section 631.021(4). [3] Secondly, the sole ground for the entry by a Florida court of an order of liquidation as to a foreign insurer is contained in Section 631.091, which reads as follows: 631.091 Grounds for ancillary liquidation; foreign insurers....

...e purpose of liquidating the business of such insurer." Thus, there being no order for liquidation of Main in Illinois, the domiciliary state, it was error for the trial court to order liquidation of Main's assets in Florida. We think the meaning of Section 631.091 is clear, not ambiguous....

...to conservation of the foreign insolvent insurers' assets, Section 631.071, unless there has first been an order for liquidation in the domiciliary state, in which event liquidation of the foreign insurers' Florida assets may be ordered pursuant to Section 631.091. Section 631.152, subsection (1), pertaining to ancillary receivership of foreign insurers, contains the directive that "[T]he department shall file a petition requesting the appointment on the grounds set forth in s. 631.091......

...ly providing that all steps taken by the Florida Department of Insurance, as ancillary receiver, in the marshalling and liquidation of assets of a foreign insurer, shall not conflict with the rights of the domiciliary receiver. Our interpretation of Section 631.091 is in harmony with the purposes of the act as set forth in Section 631.001(4)(a)-(d), earlier referred to, and with specific provisions of the act above discussed, as well as others....