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<section article="gin" article_name="Insurance" number="27-604" title_number="27" title_name="Unfair Trade Practices and Other Prohibited Practices" subtitle_number="6" subtitle_name="Cancellations, Nonrenewals, Premium Increases, and Reductions in Coverage">
  <level label="a">
    <level label="1">
      <text>This section applies only to policies of personal insurance and insurance issued under the Maryland Property Insurance Availability Act or any similar act instituted to ensure the availability of insurance.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>This section does not apply to policies in effect for 45 days or less, as provided in § 12-106 of this article.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="b">
    <level label="1">
      <text>Whenever an insurer cancels or refuses to renew a policy subject to this section, the insurer must provide to the named insured a statement of the actual reason for the cancellation or refusal to renew.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The Commissioner may not disallow a proposed action of an insurer because the statement of actual reason contains:</text>
      <level label="i">
        <text>grammatical, typographical, or other errors, if the errors are not material to the proposed action and are not misleading;</text>
      </level>
      <level label="ii">
        <text>surplus information, if the surplus information is not misleading; or</text>
      </level>
      <level label="iii">
        <text>erroneous information, if in the absence of the erroneous information there is a sufficient basis to support the proposed action.</text>
      </level>
    </level>
  </level>
  <level label="c">
    <text>A statement of actual reason is privileged and does not constitute grounds for an action against the insurer, its representatives, or another person that in good faith provides to the insurer information on which the statement is based.</text>
  </level>
  <level label="d">
    <level label="1">
      <text>The reason given in the statement of actual reason shall be clear and specific.</text>
    </level>
    <level label="2">
      <text>The use of generalized terms such as “personal habits”, “physical handicap or disability”, “living conditions”, “poor morals”, or “violation or accident record” does not meet the requirement of this subsection.</text>
    </level>
  </level>
</section>
