Marvin Mandel, Governor                         963

celled or nonrenewed, for a reason other than nonpayment of pre-
mium, the insurance company or its duly authorized agent shall
notify the insured in the cancellation notice that he has a right to
request the reason for cancellation. If the request for a reason is
made within thirty (30) days prior to the date of the proposed can-
cellation or expiration of the policy, as the case may be, the com-
pany shall give the actual reason or reasons relied upon by it for
the cancellation or nonrenewal and shall file a copy of this statement
of the reason or reasons with the Insurance Commissioner. The
explanation shall be privileged and shall not constitute grounds for
any action against the insurer or representatives or any firm, per-
son, or corporation who or which in good faith furnishes to the
insurer the information upon which the reasons are based. The pro-
visions of this section do not apply to policies of liability insurance
issued under the Maryland automobile insurance plan.

240C.

If an applicant for a policy of ordinary motor vehicle liability in-
surance is refused such a policy, by an authorized insurer or its
agent, and such insurer or agent offers or seeks to insure such appli-
cant under the Maryland automobile insurance plan for assigned
risks or if such applicant eventually does become insured under such
assigned risk plan, and the applicant, within thirty (30) days of the
date on which the refusal is given, makes a request to the insurer
or its agent in writing for a statement of the reason or reasons why
the ordinary policy was not issued, the insurer shall give the actual
reason or reasons relied upon by it for refusing to issue said policy
and shall file a copy of the statement of the reason or reasons with
the Insurance Commissioner. The explanation shall be privileged
and shall not constitute grounds for any action against the insurer
or representatives or any firm, person, or corporation who or which
in good faith furnishes to the insurer the information upon which
the reasons are based.]

(a)  Insurers have a duty to provide each policyholder with a
notice of renewal premium due at least 20 17 days in advance of the
due date, unless a notice of intention not to renew has been furnished
in compliance with Section 240A. This duty may be discharged by
any duly licensed agent or broker.

(b)  If there is a failure to discharge the duty set forth in para-
graph (a) of this subsection, and thereafter the policyholder fails
to make timely payment of the renewal premium the insurer must:

(1)  provide coverage for any claim which would have been cov-
ered under the policy, if it arises within 30 45 days after the date the
insured discovers or should have discovered that his policy has not
been renewed and,

(2)  renew the policy upon tender of payment, or comply with
Section 240C, provided the tender is made within 30 days after the
policyholder discovers or should have discovered that his policy has
not been renewed.

(c)   The duty imposed by paragraph (a) of this subsection will be
deemed discharged if the insurer shows that its established proce-
dures would have resulted in the placing in the United States mail
of the notice of renewal premium due, provided there is no showing
that in fact the notice was not placed in the mail.