Mississippi Adjuster Insurance Exam 2026

Seven Credentials, Two Articles

Mississippi licenses adjuster work under two articles of chapter 17: Article 9, "Licensing of Insurance Adjusters," §§ 83-17-401 to 83-17-425, and Article 11, "Licensing of Public Adjusters," §§ 83-17-501 to 83-17-527. Between them they produce seven distinct credentials, plus business entity licenses.

| Credential | Authority | What it is | |---|---|---| | Independent adjuster | § 83-17-401 et seq. | License | | Public adjuster | § 83-17-501 et seq. | License | | Workers' compensation adjuster | § 83-17-401(e) | Line of authority | | Adjuster trainee | § 83-17-403 | Registration | | Public adjuster trainee | § 83-17-503 | Registration | | Emergency adjuster | § 83-17-409 | Temporary license | | Emergency public adjuster | § 83-17-509 | Temporary license |

⚠️ The workers' compensation adjuster is a line of authority, not a separate license. § 83-17-401(e) defines it as *"an adjuster whose scope of licensure is limited to workers' compensation insurance"* — one who may not represent insureds and must satisfy all licensing and continuing education requirements. The Department offers exactly two adjuster lines: *Property & Casualty including Workers Compensation*, and *Workers Compensation Only*. Say "one license, two lines." Not "a separate comp license," and not "just an exam."

⚠️ Trainee registration is an exemption from licensure, not a license — and its authority is buried where nobody looks. § 83-17-403 is the section that makes unlicensed adjusting a crime, and the exception is inside it: an individual undergoing education and training under a licensed adjuster's direction *"for a period not exceeding twelve (12) months may act as an adjuster without having an adjuster's license, if at the beginning of such training period, the name of such trainee has been registered as such with the commissioner."* § 83-17-503 carries the identical exception for public adjuster trainees. Not renewable.

⚠️ The penalties are asymmetric. Unlicensed adjusting under § 83-17-403 is a misdemeanor at not more than $250 and not more than six months. Unlicensed public adjusting under § 83-17-503 is not more than $1,000 and up to one year — four times the fine and twice the jail exposure, on otherwise parallel wording.

Salaried Insurer Employees Do Not Need This License

§ 83-17-401(a) defines the adjuster and then carves nine categories out of it. The exclusions are broad enough that they shape who actually holds the credential.

⚠️ The one that matters most: salaried employees of an insurer, regularly engaged in adjusting, investigating or supervising the investigation of claims, are exempt. Staff adjusters do not need a Mississippi license. This is the opposite of a handful of states that reach salaried carrier personnel, and it is the first thing to establish about any given file.

⚠️ Life, accident and health claim handlers are exempt, and so are multiperil crop insurance adjusters. The license is a property and casualty credential in practice as well as in name.

The remaining exclusions are: attorneys adjusting losses incidental to the practice of law and not advertising as adjusters; technical support to a licensed adjuster — photographers, estimators, private detectives, engineers, handwriting experts; licensed agents processing undisputed or uncontested losses under policies they issued; clerical staff performing no negotiation on disputed claims; data entry personnel employed by licensed adjusters within supervisory limits; and an "automated claims adjudication system" under § 83-17-401(d), a preprogrammed system for portable electronics insurance claims operated under licensed supervision.

⚠️ The public adjuster exclusion list is far narrower — there is exactly one. § 83-17-501 excludes only an attorney-at-law who does not advertise or represent that he is a public adjuster. None of the Article 9 carve-outs travel across.

And there is a scope clause running the other way, against the carrier. § 83-17-411: *"An insurer shall not knowingly refer any claim or loss for adjustment in this state to any person purporting to be or acting as an insurance adjuster unless such person is currently licensed."* The duty sits on the insurance company, and no penalty is stated in the section itself. In practice this is the enforcement lever that makes the licensing requirement bite.

The Credential That Changed on 1 July 2025

§ 83-17-501 defines the public adjuster as one who, for compensation, acts on behalf of an insured in negotiating or effecting the settlement of a first-party claim for loss to real or personal property; or advertises, solicits or holds out as a public adjuster; or directly or indirectly solicits business, investigates or adjusts losses, or advises an insured about first-party claims.

House Bill 1174, Laws 2025 ch. 490, effective 1 July 2025, rewrote three sections and created a fourth. Anything written about Mississippi public adjusting before that date is out of date on the two points that matter most.

⚠️ Errors and omissions coverage stopped being an option. The old rule was a $50,000 bond or E&O policy. § 83-17-511(1)(i) as amended requires the applicant to be *"financially responsible to exercise the license,"* demonstrated before issuance and maintained for the duration of the license, by either a surety bond of at least $50,000 *"in favor of the State of Mississippi,"* or an irrevocable letter of credit of at least $50,000 *"subject to lawful levy of execution."* Both must specifically reach the adjuster's erroneous acts, failure to act, conviction of fraud, or conviction for unfair trade practices, and neither may terminate without thirty days' prior written notice.

⚠️ And the license terminates itself. § 83-17-511(1)(i)(iii): if the evidence of financial responsibility *"terminates or becomes impaired,"* the license "shall automatically terminate" and "be promptly surrendered to the commissioner without demand." No hearing, no order. The commissioner may also demand evidence at any time under (1)(i)(ii).

Minimum age is 21 for a public adjuster and 18 for an independent adjuster — a small difference that gets missed. The public adjuster must also be *"trustworthy, reliable, and of good reputation,"* determined through an investigation of the commissioner, and must not have committed any act that would ground discipline under § 83-17-519.

Nonresidents face a hard reciprocity condition. § 83-17-511(3) requires that the applicant be currently licensed and in good standing in their home state, that a proper request and fees be filed, that the uniform application be submitted, and — the one that actually bites — that "the person's designated home state issues nonresident public adjuster licenses to persons of Mississippi on the same basis." That is not discretionary and is not satisfied merely by holding a home-state license.

§ 83-17-524 — New Law, and It Breaks the Numbering

HB 1174 § 4 created an entirely new section imposing fiduciary duties on public adjusters holding claim money. It is codified as § 83-17-524 — ⚠️ an even number in an article that otherwise runs in odd numbers, so a reader scanning section numbers walks straight past it.

All funds received or held by a public adjuster on behalf of an insured toward the settlement of a claim shall be handled in a fiduciary capacity and deposited into one or more separate NONINTEREST-BEARING fiduciary trust accounts in a financial institution licensed to do business in this state, ⚠️ no later than the close of the SECOND BUSINESS DAY from receipt of the funds.

Those funds must be held separately from any personal or nonbusiness funds, not commingled or combined with other funds, reasonably ascertainable from the books of accounts and records of the public adjuster, and ⚠️ disbursed within THIRTY CALENDAR DAYS of any invoice received, upon approval of the insured or the claimant that the work has been satisfactorily completed.

The adjuster must maintain an accurate record and itemization of any funds deposited into the account.

⚠️ Note the mixed day convention inside a single section: the deposit deadline runs in BUSINESS days and the disbursement deadline runs in CALENDAR days. That is unusual enough to be worth memorizing as a pair.

⚠️ And note that "noninterest-bearing" is mandatory, not permissive. Many states route client or claimant funds into interest-bearing arrangements that sweep the interest to a public purpose. Mississippi forbids the account from bearing interest at all.

The Contract Rules, Amended by Two Different Acts

§ 83-17-523 governs the public adjuster's contract with the insured. ⚠️ It was amended by TWO separate acts that both took effect on 1 July 2025 — Laws 2024 ch. 452 § 4 and Laws 2025 ch. 490 § 3 — so anyone diffing only HB 1174 against the prior code will mis-attribute what changed.

The contract must be written and signed by both parties, with a copy given to the insured, and it must contain the adjuster's legible full name as specified in the department's licensing records, the license number, the permanent business address, and ⚠️ attestation language stating that the adjuster has a letter of credit or a surety bond — tying the contract directly back to the § 83-17-511 financial responsibility requirement.

Compensation is capped at 10% of any insurance settlement or claim proceeds. No advance fees may be charged, and specific costs must be itemized with estimated amounts.

⚠️ Cancellation: the insured may revoke the contract without cause or penalty for at least FIVE BUSINESS DAYS after execution, and the adjuster must return anything of value within FIFTEEN BUSINESS DAYS.

The ethical prohibitions are the tested part. A public adjuster may not accept cases beyond his expertise; may not make material misrepresentations; may not contract after a total-loss declaration absent a reasonable expectation of additional recovery; ⚠️ may not split attorney fees or receive referral payments; and ⚠️ may not hold a financial interest in repair businesses connected to claims he adjusts.

⚠️ And one direct conflict bar worth reading twice: a public adjuster may not represent a party he previously adjusted for as an INDEPENDENT adjuster. Because Mississippi licenses both credentials and a person may hold both, this is a live conflict rather than a theoretical one.

No Prior License, No Declared Disaster, and You May Start Before You File

§ 83-17-409 (adjusters) and § 83-17-509 (public adjusters) create temporary emergency credentials, and each is inverted from what a candidate expects.

⚠️ The trigger is the occurrence, not a proclamation. The statutes reach *"a catastrophe or emergency which arises out of a disaster, act of God, riot, civil commotion, conflagration or other similar occurrence."* There is no requirement of a formally declared disaster or a gubernatorial proclamation.

⚠️ Prior licensure is not required. Applicants *"may or may not be otherwise licensed,"* and may be residents or nonresidents. If you already hold a Mississippi independent adjuster license you do not need the emergency endorsement at all.

Certification is required, and it carries real weight. The applicant must be certified by a licensed adjuster or by an insurer with a Mississippi office authorized to do business here — and ⚠️ the certifying party assumes responsibility for the emergency licensee's conduct and claims practices.

Duration is 90 days, extendable by the commissioner for one additional 90 days. ⚠️ The Department's instruction sheet says the license *"will expire no more than 180 days from issuance"* — that collapses the base term and the extension into a single number. The statute is 90 plus 90.

⚠️ The fee is a statutory CAP, not a fixed charge, and it is billed after the fact. *"In an amount not to exceed Fifty Dollars ($50.00) as determined by the commissioner,"* due and payable within thirty days of the issuance of the license — not paid with the application.

⚠️ And under § 83-17-509 the emergency public adjuster may begin work BEFORE filing. The completed application must be filed with the commissioner within five days of the applicant beginning work. That is a full inversion of the ordinary licensing sequence.

The 20 Hours Has No Statute Behind It

The Department requires 20 hours of prelicensing education for both independent and public adjusters, and its published guidelines cite §§ 83-17-251 through 83-17-261 as the authority. That citation does not survive being read.

⚠️ § 83-17-251 is the only place in Mississippi law containing the number twenty, and it says: *"The prelicensing course of study hours shall consist of twenty (20) hours of approved prelicensing education courses per line of authority."* Now read the trigger clause: *"Every individual seeking to be licensed as an insurance producer in the State of Mississippi…"* — and the article it sits in is captioned "Prelicensing and Continuing Education for Insurance AGENTS." Adjusters are never mentioned in it.

The rest of the chain is empty too. § 83-17-413, the adjuster qualifications section, requires only *"experience or special education or training with reference to the handling of loss claims of sufficient duration and extent"* — no hours at all. § 83-17-417 (examination) contains no prelicensing mandate; it contains an *exemption* route. § 83-17-407 lets the commissioner waive requirements for an approved-provider certification covering prelicensing coursework — a waiver power, not a power to impose hours. And no administrative rule imposing adjuster prelicensing hours could be located.

So what actually binds you? § 83-17-413's requirement is disjunctive — experience or special education or training — and the Department accepts the 20-hour course as the way to satisfy it. ⚠️ Both instruction sheets confirm that the 20 hours may be substituted by documentation of equivalent experience or specialized claims training.

The honest statement is: the Department requires 20 hours, and the requirement is satisfiable in the alternative by documented equivalent experience. It is not a statutory mandate, and no source that calls it one has read § 83-17-251's opening words.

Practically, plan on the course. The alternative route requires you to persuade the Department that your claims experience is sufficient, and the course is the predictable path. But know which is which, because the distinction decides what a candidate with ten years of out-of-state claims experience actually has to do.

Three Exams, a Raw 70, and a Retake Rule That Depends on Where You Sit

Pearson VUE administers three adjuster examinations, and unlike many states Mississippi publishes the question counts.

| Exam | Questions | Time | Fee | |---|---|---|---| | General Adjuster — P&C including Workers Comp | 60 scored (+5 unscored) | 120 min | $50 | | Workers Compensation Adjuster | 50 | 120 min | $50 | | Public Adjuster | 50 | 120 min | $50 |

The passing score is a raw 70%. The handbook states: *"The passing score required on the Life only, Accident & Health or Sickness only, and the Life, Accident & Health or Sickness (combined) Producer examination is 65%. The passing score required on all other examinations is 70%."* No scaled-score language appears anywhere in the Mississippi handbook.

⚠️ Read the trigger on the 65%. It governs only the three named Life and Accident & Health producer examinations. All three adjuster exams fall in the *"all other examinations"* bucket. Do not let the 65 bleed across.

⚠️ The retake rule depends on how you sat the exam. Candidates must wait one day before scheduling a retake, and reservations cannot be made at the test center. But OnVUE online proctored delivery is limited to two attempts per exam with a fourteen-day wait between them, while physical test-center retakes are unlimited. A candidate who has burned two online attempts must go to a test center.

Score shelf life is two years — you must *"pass the required examination(s) within two years of license application for the type of license you are seeking."* That is longer than most states allow.

⚠️ A 2026 act changed how the exams are administered. HB 1332 (2026) requires the testing service administering the examinations to adhere to National Association of Insurance Commissioners standards. No pre-2026 material carries this.

Statutory exam exemptions differ between the two articles. § 83-17-417 gives adjusters five routes: persons principally engaged in adjusting for one year before 1 July 1993 (a grandfather clause); renewal applicants; adjusters licensed in a reciprocal-agreement state; holders of a commissioner-approved certification whose exam is substantially equivalent; and completers of a commissioner-approved course or training program certified as having passed a knowledge exam. § 83-17-515 gives public adjusters only three — and ⚠️ no 1993 grandfather clause, because Article 11 dates from 2007.

Two Fee Lines Do Not Trace, and Every License Has a Thirteen-Month Floor

The authorizing statute is § 27-15-97, the statewide privilege tax, and it contains exactly two amounts: $400 for *"incorporated companies, firms, or associations"* adjusting insured losses, and $100 for *"individual persons."* It also exempts officers or salaried employees of insurers and special agents adjusting for the insurers they represent.

| Credential | Fee | Traces to statute? | |---|---|---| | Independent adjuster | $100 | Yes | | Public adjuster | $100 | Yes | | Either entity | $400 | Yes | | Emergency / emergency PA | Department lists $100 | ⚠️ Statutes cap at $50 | | Trainee / PA trainee | Department implies $100 | ⚠️ No statutory line exists |

⚠️ Two fee lines fail the chase-it-back test. The emergency statutes cap the fee at $50 *"as determined by the commissioner,"* and the administrative rule and instruction sheets say $50 — a $100 charge would exceed the cap. And trainee registration is a statutory exemption from licensure; neither § 83-17-403 nor § 83-17-503 authorizes any fee, and § 27-15-97 has no trainee amount at all — yet the rule charges $50 and the Department's fee page implies $100, with the rule cross-referencing a statute that does not contain the number.

Expiration — §§ 83-17-419 and 83-17-517. Individuals: the license continues *"until the last day of the month of the licensee's birthday in the second year following issuance or renewal."* Business entities: *"until May 31, in the second year following issuance or renewal."*

⚠️ Every license carries a THIRTEEN-MONTH MINIMUM TERM — entities included. Both sections impose it, and most summaries omit it entirely. It is what makes the continuing education sliding scale work, because it means no renewal term can ever be shorter than thirteen months.

There is a continuation clause worth knowing. On timely filing of the renewal application and fee, *"the current license shall continue to be in force until the renewal license is issued"* or the commissioner refuses in writing. § 83-17-517 makes the written-refusal requirement explicit.

The late fee is 50% of the renewal fee — for individuals, assessed on renewals received within twelve months of expiration; for entities, on invoices received after 31 May. ⚠️ No statutory or regulatory authority for the 50% figure could be located — §§ 83-17-419 and 83-17-517 contain no late-fee language at all. It appears only in Department materials.

The Department sends renewal notification about 90 days ahead, and states flatly that ⚠️ applications printed from its website will not be accepted in place of the renewal invoice.

Mississippi Has No Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act

This is the single most important fact about adjusting in Mississippi, and it is an absence.

Mississippi has no unfair claims settlement practices act of the NAIC model type, and no claims-handling regulation. It is reported to be the only state in the country with neither.

§ 83-5-35 is the statute a candidate would expect to find it in, and it is the 1947-era NAIC Unfair Trade Practices model — adopted before the NAIC added the claims-settlement section, and never updated to include it. Its enumeration runs (a) through (i) and stops: misrepresentation and false advertising of policy contracts; false information and advertising; defamation; boycott, coercion and intimidation; false financial statements; stock operations and advisory board contracts; unfair discrimination; designation of agent, solicitor or insurer; and violations of two named sections.

⚠️ The word "claim" does not appear anywhere in § 83-5-35.

The consequences run through everything else in this guide:

There is no "general business practice" element in Mississippi, because there is no statute to carry one. In every NAIC-model state that element is the central limiting device on claims litigation. Here it simply does not exist.

There are no numeric claim-handling deadlines for property and casualty — not to acknowledge, not to investigate, not to decide, not to pay. A full sweep of the state's insurance regulations confirms it: no claims-handling chapter exists.

And there is no matching statute, no ordinance-or-law mandate, and no regulation on actual cash value, depreciation or holdbacks. All of it follows from the same gap. Those questions are governed by policy language alone, with no regulatory overlay.

⚠️ An adjuster trained in a NAIC-model state will import deadlines that do not exist here — the familiar acknowledge-in-fifteen, decide-in-fifteen structure has no Mississippi counterpart. That is the single most common error a transferring adjuster makes.

Two Damage Tiers, Two Different Thresholds

The punitive damages test is conjunctive. *United American Ins. Co. v. Merrill* (Miss. 2007): the issue should not go to the jury unless the court finds jury issues on whether 1) *"The insurer lacked an arguable or legitimate basis for denying the claim,"* and 2) *"The insurer committed a wilful or malicious wrong, or acted with gross and reckless disregard for the insured's rights."*

⚠️ A national claims-practice publisher renders that test disjunctively, with "or" between the prongs. The issuing court's word is "and." Both prongs are required. This is exactly the kind of error a study product inherits from a secondary source, and it materially changes the analysis.

⚠️ There are TWO damage tiers and they have different thresholds — this is the structure to carry.

| | Extracontractual damages | Punitive damages | |---|---|---| | Trigger | No arguable basis; negligence suffices | Both *Merrill* prongs | | Burden | Preponderance | Clear and convincing | | Content | Emotional distress, mental anguish, inconvenience, attorney's fees, costs of correcting the insurer's error | Punishment and deterrence | | Court gatekeeping | None | Required |

*Universal Life Ins. Co. v. Veasley*, 610 So. 2d 290 (Miss. 1992), is the extracontractual case: *"it is entirely foreseeable by an insurer that the failure to pay a valid claim through the negligence of its employees should cause some adverse result to the one entitled to payment."* Punitive damages were reversed there; extracontractual damages were affirmed.

⚠️ *Veasley* contains a sentence that no longer states the law. It says punitive damages require proof *"by a preponderance of evidence."* § 11-1-65(1)(a) was amended in 1993 to require clear and convincing evidence. A national compendium still reproduces the old formulation. Teach the statute, not the pre-1993 case language.

⚠️ An arguable basis is not a complete defense — it defeats punitive damages only. Three independent limits: *Merrill* holds that "denial of a claim without proper investigation may give rise to punitive damages" — so an insurer cannot manufacture arguability by not looking; *Veasley* extracontractual damages survive on a lower showing; and unreasonable delay is independently actionable, separate from denial. Mississippi courts have not defined the line between reasonable and unreasonable delay.

§ 11-1-65 — Capped, Bifurcated, and Gated

The burden, verbatim from § 11-1-65(1)(a): punitive damages may not be awarded unless the claimant proves "by clear and convincing evidence" that the defendant *"acted with actual malice, gross negligence which evidences a willful, wanton or reckless disregard for the safety of others, or committed actual fraud."*

⚠️ Bifurcation is mandatory and a compensatory award is a strict precondition. § 11-1-65(1)(b) requires the trier of fact to determine compensatory damages first. § 11-1-65(1)(c): *"If, but only if, an award of compensatory damages has been made against a party, the court shall promptly commence an evidentiary hearing to determine whether punitive damages may be considered."* No compensatory damages means no punitive damages, full stop.

The court is the gatekeeper — § 11-1-65(1)(d): *"The court shall determine whether the issue of punitive damages may be submitted to the trier of fact."*

The caps are tiered to the defendant's net worth:

| Defendant net worth | Cap | |---|---| | More than $1 billion | $20,000,000 | | More than $750M to $1B | $15,000,000 | | More than $500M to $750M | $5,000,000 | | More than $100M to $500M | $3,750,000 | | More than $50M to $100M | $2,500,000 | | $50 million or less | 2% of net worth |

⚠️ The tiers are not proportional. The step from the $100M–$500M band to the $500M–$750M band is small — $3.75M to $5M — and then it leaps to $15M. That non-linearity is commonly misstated.

⚠️ The cap exclusions can never apply to an insurer in a claims case. § 11-1-65(3)(d) removes the caps only where the defendant was convicted of a felony causing the damage, or acted under the influence of alcohol or non-prescribed drugs. So in insurance bad-faith practice the caps are effectively absolute.

The statutory jury factors are worth knowing because they shape what goes into a file: the defendant's financial condition and net worth; the nature and reprehensibility of the wrongdoing; the defendant's awareness of the amount of harm and motivation; and ⚠️ "the duration of the defendant's misconduct and whether the defendant attempted to conceal such misconduct."

You Can Be Sued Personally — Above a Raised Threshold

Mississippi is one of the states where an individual adjuster is a legitimate defendant, and the standard is specific.

*Gallagher Bassett Services, Inc. v. Jeffcoat*, No. 98-CA-00192-SCT (Miss. 9 Sept. 2004), adopting *Bass v. California Life Ins. Co.*, 581 So. 2d 1087 (Miss. 1991): an adjuster *"can only incur independent liability when his conduct constitutes gross negligence, malice, or reckless disregard for the rights of the insured"* — and *"an insurance adjuster, agent or other similar entities may not be held liable for simple negligence in connection with adjusting a claim."*

The court reversed the verdict against the adjusting firm, finding the conduct was mere negligence at most.

⚠️ Notice the symmetry, because it is the most useful thing here. The adjuster's personal-liability threshold — *gross negligence, malice, or reckless disregard for the rights of the insured* — is the same language as the second *Merrill* prong for punitive damages against the carrier. You become personally exposed at roughly the point your employer becomes punitive-exposed. The two questions rise and fall together, which means the file that protects the carrier protects you.

This produced a distinctive body of Mississippi law on removal. Because *Bass* and *Jeffcoat* make adjuster liability legally possible, naming a resident adjuster is not categorically fraudulent joinder — so the fight turns on whether the pleaded facts clear simple negligence. In practice the elevated bar means defendants often win, and federal courts have repeatedly found resident adjusters improperly joined and denied remand.

⚠️ State it with both halves or not at all. *An individual adjuster can be sued personally in Mississippi and is a legitimate defendant, but only for gross negligence, malice or reckless disregard — never simple negligence. Because of that elevated bar, federal courts frequently find resident adjusters improperly joined.* Teaching either half alone gives a false picture.

Almost None — and the Ones That Exist Are Not Claim Deadlines

For property and casualty claim handling there are no deadlines at all. No acknowledgment period, no investigation period, no decision period, no payment period. That follows directly from the absent unfair claims act and the absent claims regulation.

The only numeric deadlines anywhere in Mississippi property and casualty claim law are mechanical. § 83-11-551, "Payment of Claims," governs lienholders and salvage title timing: on a partial loss with lienholders of record the insurer must add the repair business or lienholder as payee; on a total loss it must include all lienholders as payees; the ⚠️ lienholder must pay any balance owed to the debtor within thirty days of receiving the check; the owner or lienholder must forward the endorsed title within fifteen days; and if the insurer cannot obtain the endorsed title within fifteen days it may request a salvage or parts-only certificate.

⚠️ None of those is a deadline to pay or investigate a claim. They are title and lien mechanics.

The one genuine payment clock in Mississippi insurance law is accident and health only — § 83-9-5. Proof-of-loss forms must be furnished within 15 days of notice of claim; a clean claim submitted electronically must be paid within 25 days; a clean claim submitted on paper within 35 days; and a resubmitted claim with the requested documentation within 20 days.

⚠️ Do not apply those to a property or casualty file. Chapter 9 is captioned *"Accident, Health and Medicare Supplement Insurance"* and § 83-9-5 sits in the accident and health article. It has nothing to say about a homeowners or automobile claim.

⚠️ And note what the statute does not specify. § 83-9-5 says only "days" — it says neither "calendar days" nor "business days" in any of its five provisions. The default construction is calendar days, but the statute does not say so. Material asserting "business days" is simply wrong; material asserting "calendar days" is stating a default rather than a statutory term.

Two Versions of Four Sections Are In Force Right Now

House Bill 1611, Laws 2025 ch. 415, approved 21 March 2025 and effective 1 July 2025, amended §§ 83-5-28, 83-11-5, 83-11-7 and 71-3-77 — property and casualty generally, automobile twice, and workers' compensation.

⚠️ It did not simply change thirty days to forty-five. Every one of the four sections was enacted in two versions, keyed to a date:

> *"[From July 1, 2025, until July 1, 2026, this section shall read as follows:]"* … and then … *"[From and after July 1, 2026, this section shall read as follows:]"*

| Coverage issued or renewed | Notice required | |---|---| | On or before 30 June 2026 | 30 days | | On or after 1 July 2026 | 45 days |

⚠️ The forty-five day version also ADDS "renewal" to the triggering events. The thirty-day version reaches cancellation, reduction in coverage and nonrenewal. The later version opens: *"No insurer shall fail to renew a policy or issue a reduction in coverage to any coverage issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2026."*

⚠️ So both versions are live simultaneously, and which one applies depends on the policy's issue or renewal date — not on today's date. A policy written in May 2026 stays on the thirty-day rule for the balance of its term. For roughly a year an adjuster or underwriter must establish when the coverage was issued or renewed before knowing which notice period governs. A flat "Mississippi is forty-five days now" is wrong.

And there are older figures in the same sections that are easy to confuse with the new rule: 10 days for nonpayment of premium where there is a named creditor loss payee; 30 days notice of less-favorable renewal terms; and ⚠️ a 45-day period for a transferring insurer to notify the Insurance Department — that last figure is old, unrelated to HB 1611, and a live confusion risk precisely because it is also forty-five.

Pure Comparative Fault, and Stacking Is the Default

⚠️ Mississippi is a PURE comparative fault state, and this is a minority position. § 11-7-15: *"damages shall be diminished by the jury in proportion to the amount of negligence attributable to the person injured."* There is no bar of any kind — not fifty percent, not fifty-one, not ninety-nine. A plaintiff 95% at fault recovers 5%.

⚠️ The consequence for adjusting is structural: comparative fault in Mississippi is a VALUATION input, never a liability defense. There is no percentage at which a claim can be denied outright on comparative fault. An adjuster arriving from a modified-comparative state will deny claims that Mississippi law says are payable at a reduced figure. The statute also applies to property damage, so it governs the physical damage side too.

Joint and several liability is abolished. § 85-5-7 makes each defendant liable *"in direct proportion to his percentage of fault,"* with a single surviving exception for defendants who *"consciously and deliberately pursue a common plan or design to commit a tortious act, or actively take part in it."* Fault is allocated to immune tortfeasors and cannot be reallocated to the remaining defendants.

⚠️ There is no percentage threshold in the current § 85-5-7. Mississippi formerly had a 50% trigger, and secondary sources still routinely repeat it. Any "50% threshold" statement about Mississippi joint and several liability is stale law.

Minimum limits are 25/50/25 under § 63-15-3. ⚠️ Read the trigger: those figures sit inside the definition of "proof of financial responsibility," not in a free-standing compulsory-insurance command. ⚠️ Which act last set them could not be sourced — neither publisher carries a history note — so the commonly repeated effective date is not asserted here.

Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory under § 83-11-101, with rejection only in writing on a Department-approved form, binding all insureds under the policy; once rejected it need not be re-offered on renewal unless the named insured requests in writing. ⚠️ The statute expressly permits "an exclusion for the first Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00)" of uninsured motorist PROPERTY DAMAGE — a $200 deductible written into the statute itself.

⚠️ Underinsured coverage is definitional, not separate. § 83-11-103 makes a vehicle "uninsured" when its liability limits are less than the insured's UM limits. So the comparison is limits against limits — not limits against the claimant's damages. If UM limits are equal to or below the tortfeasor's limits there is no underinsured coverage no matter how badly underpaid the claimant is. The definition also reaches insurer denial or insolvency, hit-and-run requiring actual physical contact, and vehicles of persons immune under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act after administrative remedies are exhausted.

⚠️ Stacking is the default in Mississippi, and the proof is structural. § 83-11-102 creates a narrow opt-out: an insured *"may elect to purchase"* and an insurer *"may offer"* single-limit, nonstacking uninsured motorist coverage — but only where the policy covers four or more vehicles, the single limit is at least the minimums for four vehicles combined, and the named insured signs a Department-approved form acknowledging the limitation and that it is an alternative to stackable coverage. A statute creating a narrow, consent-based, form-documented opt-out for fleets is only necessary if stacking is otherwise the rule.

There Is No Percentage Threshold — the Trigger Is the Carrier's Own Decision

⚠️ Mississippi has no total-loss percentage threshold of any kind, and the "75%" figure circulating commercially is fabricated. Every candidate statute was checked against the number.

§ 63-21-5, the definitions section, contains no general salvage definition for motor vehicles, no percentage, and no branded-title definition. The only salvage definitions there are for mobile and manufactured homes, and even those turn on insurer acquisition after paying a total loss claim rather than on any valuation percentage.

§ 63-21-33 provides that an insurer obtaining title through a total loss claim *"shall obtain a salvage certificate of title in its name."* No percentage. Its one exception is expressed in dollars, not percent: not required for vehicles ten years old or older with a value of $1,500 or less.

§ 63-21-39 sets the restoration and branded-title procedure with a $75 inspection fee, and ⚠️ delegates damage-assessment standards to regulations of the Commissioner of Public Safety rather than fixing them in the Code.

⚠️ So Mississippi's salvage trigger is TRANSACTIONAL, not arithmetical. Branding attaches when the insurer pays a total loss claim and takes title — the carrier's own total-loss decision is the trigger. There is no statutory percentage an adjuster can compute against, and no figure a claimant can hold you to.

If a percentage exists anywhere it would sit in a Department of Public Safety inspection regulation, and it would govern inspection, not claim settlement. Nothing in the Insurance Code or the motor vehicle title chapter supplies one.

On valuation the Department's guidance is thin and worth knowing for what it does not say. The measure of damages is defined by the policy — typically actual cash value immediately prior to loss, or the cost to properly repair — and the insurer pays *"the lowest amount that such vehicle or glass could be properly repaired or replaced by a contractor or repair shop within a reasonable geographical or trade area."* Aftermarket and non-OEM parts are permitted, with manufacturer identification and disclosure in the written estimate. ⚠️ The Department does not address total-loss methodology, diminished value, betterment, depreciation, appraisal, or any deadline.

Diminished value splits, and one half is simply open. A uninsured motorist property-damage exclusion for diminished value is enforceable in Mississippi. First-party diminished value has no Mississippi authority in either direction, and neither do betterment or depreciation of labor. Given there is no claims regulation at all, all three are almost certainly governed by policy language alone — but this guide does not assert a rule where none was located.

No Standard Fire Policy, and Suit-Limitation Clauses Are Void

⚠️ Mississippi prescribes no standard fire policy — neither the national 165-line form nor a form of its own. Every section of title 83 chapter 13 was reviewed and none prescribes a policy form; the chapter covers reinsurance, reserves, mortgagee clauses, proof of loss and volunteer fire department payments. No standard-fire-policy chapter appears in the state's insurance regulations either.

What Mississippi has instead is § 83-13-11, "Conditions to be stated in full": *"In all insurance against loss by fire the condition of insurance shall be stated in full, and the rules and bylaws of the company shall not be considered as a warranty or a part of the contract except so far as they are incorporated in full into the policy and are not in conflict with this chapter."* That is a disclosure and incorporation rule, not a prescribed form.

⚠️ THE BIGGEST INVERSION IN THE STATE: contractual suit-limitation clauses are void. § 15-1-5 provides that a limitation period *"shall not be changed in any way whatsoever by contract between parties,"* and any such change is "absolutely null and void." The stated object is to make limitation periods the same for all litigants, and no insurance exception appears.

Mississippi voids these clauses in BOTH directions — shortening and lengthening. The operative period for a first-party property claim is three years under § 15-1-49, and it runs from refusal of payment, not from the date of loss. Invoking appraisal does not extend it.

⚠️ So the twelve-month suit clause printed in most homeowners policies sold in Mississippi is probably unenforceable, and an adjuster who denies on it is likely wrong. This is the most commercially significant property finding in the state.

⚠️ And be careful with the four-state form. A prescribed "standard" fire policy captioned for several southeastern states including Mississippi exists in a neighbouring state's regulations and carries a two-year suit clause. That is the other state's prescription and an insurer's drafting choice — it is not Mississippi law, and in Mississippi it would be void under § 15-1-5 anyway. Do not publish either twelve months or twenty-four months as Mississippi's suit period.

Proof of loss has no fixed deadline, and the carrier can forfeit the defense. § 83-13-13 requires the insurer, on notice of fire damage, to *"furnish to the insured proper blanks upon which to make the required proof of such loss"* with complete directions. ⚠️ If the insurer fails to do so, the insured's failure to make timely proof is NOT a defense to the claim, and the insured then gets *"a reasonable time in which to make such proof after the blanks and directions are received."* The clock does not start until the carrier sends the forms.

Mississippi does have a valued policy law — and it is inert where it matters most. § 83-13-5 provides that on total destruction the company *"shall not be permitted to deny that the buildings or structures insured were worth ... the full value upon which the insurance is calculated,"* and *"the measure of damages shall be the amount for which the buildings and structures were insured."* ⚠️ Four conditions must all hold: FIRE only; TOTAL destruction only; BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES only, not contents; and builder's risk expressly excluded. So it does nothing in a hurricane or windstorm loss — the state's signature claim type. Companion rules: no fire policy exceeding fair value; maximum five-year term; three-quarter value clauses prohibited; violation a misdemeanor at $200 to $1,000 per offense.

Anti-Concurrent Causation, and a Burden That Splits by Coverage Part

This is the defining Mississippi claim problem, and the answer came entirely from the courts — no statute or regulation resulted.

*Corban v. United Services Automobile Ass'n*, No. 2008-IA-00645-SCT (Miss. 8 Oct. 2009) held that the anti-concurrent causation clause IS enforceable — Mississippi did not strike it down — but narrowly limited it. The clause applies only where covered and excluded perils contemporaneously converge and operate in conjunction. *"Concurrently"* means *"occurring at the same time"* and *"operating in conjunction."*

⚠️ Where perils act SEQUENTIALLY — at different times, causing different damage, resulting in separate losses — the clause is INAPPLICABLE. *"If the property suffered damage from wind, and separately was damaged by flood, the insured is entitled to be compensated for those losses caused by wind."* The court rejected the "indivisible loss" theory, noting that the word *"indivisible"* appears nowhere in the policy.

⚠️ THE BURDEN OF PROOF SPLITS BY COVERAGE PART — this is the operationally decisive holding.

| Coverage | Who proves what | |---|---| | Dwelling and Other Structures (all-risk) | The insured proves a "direct, physical loss." The burden then SHIFTS TO THE INSURER to prove by a preponderance that losses were *"caused or contributed to by"* flood | | Personal Property (named perils) | The INSURED must prove the loss *"was caused by wind"* |

⚠️ So on an all-risk dwelling claim in a hurricane the CARRIER must prove the flood exclusion — the policyholder does not have to prove wind. But on contents the burden flips back to the insured. One hurricane claim carries two different burdens of proof depending on which coverage part you are adjusting. That is counter-intuitive and it is the single most valuable thing an adjuster can know about Mississippi property claims.

The rule was reaffirmed four years later. In *Hoover v. United Services Automobile Ass'n*, No. 2011-CA-01486-SCT (Miss. 7 Nov. 2013), the Supreme Court applied *Corban* by name as controlling, reaffirmed that the insurer asserting an exclusion bears the burden and that it does not shift back even after the insurer puts on evidence, and held that allocation of wind versus water damage is a JURY question rather than a matter of law.

⚠️ And because appraisal panels may not decide causation, a wind-versus-water allocation cannot be pushed into appraisal. In a hurricane claim the central dispute *is* causation, which puts it outside an appraiser's authority entirely.

Six Counties, Wind and Hail Only, Funded Statewide

The Mississippi Windstorm Underwriting Association is the residual market for coastal wind risk, established under title 83 chapter 34.

⚠️ It is not statewide. § 83-34-1 defines the "coast area" as SIX named counties: Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George. Note that it reaches inland — Pearl River, Stone and George are second-tier counties, not literally coastal.

⚠️ It writes WINDSTORM AND HAIL ONLY. It does not cover flood or storm surge. Any person or entity with an insurable interest in insurable property at fixed locations in the coast area may apply, through licensed Mississippi resident producers or brokers, and all properties require inspection. ⚠️ Properties in flood zones must provide evidence of flood coverage from another source as a condition of coverage.

Maximum limits: dwelling structure $1,000,000; dwelling contents $250,000; commercial $1,000,000.

⚠️ The six-county pool is funded partly by the entire state. § 83-34-33 provides for a surcharge on all property and casualty premiums statewide to cover excess covered-event losses. A policyholder in the north of the state helps fund coastal wind risk.

⚠️ THE CLAIM INTERACTION IS THE PRACTICAL CORE, and it is where the pieces of this guide come together. A coastal insured typically holds three separate policies: a homeowners policy that often excludes wind, a wind pool policy covering wind and hail, and a federal flood policy. Because the pool writes wind and hail but never flood, the wind-versus-water allocation decides which of three carriers pays — and the burden rules from the anti-concurrent causation section apply against each of them.

And because appraisal cannot decide causation, that three-way allocation has to be resolved by agreement or by a jury. There is no efficient contractual mechanism for it.

The Caps Changed in 2025 — and Property Damage Beats Everything Else

Senate Bill 2894, Laws 2025 ch. 376, effective 1 July 2025, rewrote the guaranty association's obligations at § 83-23-115 and added a cybersecurity definition at § 83-23-109. The current structure has five tiers:

| | Obligation | |---|---| | (i) | "The full amount of a covered claim for benefits under a workers' compensation insurance coverage" — UNCAPPED | | (ii) | Unearned premium — in excess of $50 | | (iii) | All other covered claims — in excess of $50, not exceeding $300,000 per claimant | | (iv) | Property damage covered claims — in excess of $50, not exceeding $400,000 per claimant | | (v) | Cybersecurity — $300,000 aggregate per single insured event |

⚠️ The claimant deductible is $50, not the NAIC model's $100. That is the first thing an adjuster from another state gets wrong.

⚠️ Property damage carries a HIGHER cap than everything else — $400,000 against $300,000. That inverts the natural assumption that the general cap is the ceiling, and it was new in 2025.

⚠️ The cyber cap is a per-EVENT aggregate, not per-claimant. Verbatim: *"In no event shall the association be obligated to pay an amount in excess of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00) for all first- and third-party claims under a policy or endorsement providing or that is found to provide cybersecurity insurance coverages and arising out of a single insured event, regardless of the number of claims made or the number of claimants."* One insured event, one $300,000 pot, split among everybody. It is the only cap in the section that runs regardless of claimant count.

Workers' compensation claims are paid in full and are not subject to any cap — and comp is not among the kinds of insurance excluded from the association's scope under § 83-23-105, which is why it is covered at all.

⚠️ There is no net-worth exclusion for Mississippi insureds. The "covered claim" definition excludes only claims already rejected by another state's guaranty fund under that state's net-worth exclusions. Mississippi imports other states' net-worth bars; it imposes none of its own.

Claim timing in insolvency: the association covers claims existing before the insolvency determination and arising within thirty days after it, or before the policy expires or is replaced. ⚠️ And there is a hard bar — a covered claim does not include one "filed with the association after final date set by the court for the filing of claims against the liquidator or receiver."

Not in the Insurance Code, Not Mandatory, and No Warning Statement

⚠️ Mississippi's insurance fraud law is not in the Insurance Code at all. Title 83 chapter 5 has thirteen articles and none addresses fraud — ⚠️ and note the citation trap: article 7 at § 83-5-401 is Risk-Based Capital, not fraud, which catches anyone guessing at a section number.

The fraud statute and the fraud bureau are in title 7 — the Executive Department — chapter 5, the Attorney General: §§ 7-5-301 to 7-5-311, the Insurance Integrity Enforcement Bureau. ⚠️ The bureau sits in the Attorney General's office, not the Insurance Department. The Department's own role is license revocation, cease-and-desist and referral out.

§ 7-5-303 reaches schemes to defraud any insurance plan, obtaining money by false pretense, bribing insurance officials, kickbacks for patient referrals, and knowingly falsifying or concealing material facts — ⚠️ and, critically for an adjuster, "fraudulently deny[ing] the payment of an insurance claim." "Insurance plan" expressly includes workers' compensation.

⚠️ The statute runs against the carrier side, not only against claimants. In Mississippi a bad-faith denial is not merely civil exposure — it is inside the criminal fraud definition.

Penalties under § 7-5-309 are felony-grade: imprisonment not more than three years; a fine of not more than $5,000 or double the value of the fraud, whichever is greater; organizations up to $150,000 per violation; and the court shall assess double the reasonable costs of investigation and prosecution.

⚠️ Reporting is PERMISSIVE, not mandatory. § 7-5-307 says "may report" — workers' compensation providers, health insurance providers, Commission employees, or any person or entity with a belief or information of fraud may report it to the Bureau, furnish pertinent information and cooperate. There is no deadline and no mandatory trigger. ⚠️ And no civil-liability immunity for good-faith reporters was located — the section provides only that notification to the Workers' Compensation Commission *"shall be confidential,"* and confidentiality is not immunity.

⚠️ No fraud warning statement is required on Mississippi claim forms. Neither the national model-law chart nor the specialist fraud-warning index lists Mississippi as having one, and no statute or regulation imposing one surfaced. This is a trap precisely because you will see the warning on Mississippi claim forms constantly — national carriers print one standardized form for every state they write in, so the language is on the form for other states' sake. Having seen it is not evidence that Mississippi requires it.

No antifraud plan and no special investigative unit are required. Mississippi does not appear on the specialist index of states mandating an SIU.

Workers' compensation fraud has its own parallel statute — § 71-3-69 — and ⚠️ read its verbs: it is a felony to *"willfully make any false or misleading statement or representation for the purpose of obtaining or wrongfully withholding any benefit or payment."* "Or wrongfully withholding" criminalizes the adjuster's false statement made to withhold a benefit, symmetrically with the claimant's. Penalties match § 7-5-309: up to $5,000 or double the fraud value, and up to three years.

Fourteen Days, 450 Weeks, and the Employee Picks the Doctor

The rate formula is § 71-3-13: compensation *"shall not exceed sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66-2/3%) of the average weekly wage for the state,"* with a minimum of $25.00 per week. The formula dates from 1992; the dollar figure moves every year.

⚠️ Rates change on 1 JANUARY and are keyed to the DATE OF INJURY — not 1 July, and not the date of claim or payment.

| Injury on or after | Maximum weekly | |---|---| | 1 January 2024 | $608.58 | | 1 January 2025 | $630.73 | | 1 January 2026 (current) | $654.63 |

⚠️ Do not extrapolate the 2027 figure — it depends on the state average weekly wage determination and is not yet published. And ⚠️ do not use commercial calculator sites for this: three of them publish 2026 maxima that match no actual Mississippi year, including one that is internally consistent with its own stated wage figure and still wrong on both inputs.

⚠️ The 450-week cap applies to INDEMNITY only. § 71-3-13: *"The total recovery of compensation hereunder, exclusive of medical payments under Section 71-3-15 ... shall not exceed the multiple of four hundred fifty (450) weeks times sixty-six and two-thirds percent of the average weekly wage for the state."* Medical benefits sit outside it entirely, and the cap is an aggregate across injury and death combined, not a per-benefit ceiling.

| Item | Rule | |---|---| | Waiting period | First 5 days — no compensation except medical benefits | | Retroactivity | Disability of 14 days or more → compensation from the date of disability | | Notice of injury | 30 days to the employer | | Claim limitations | 2 years from injury or death | | Employer's first report | 10 days of the employer's notice | | Carrier accept or contest | 14 DAYS |

⚠️ Fourteen days is the number that matters most. The first installment is due on the fourteenth day after the employer has notice of the injury, and by that day the carrier must either pay or file a Notice of Controversion. Miss it and the penalty is +10% if no award has been entered, or +20% under an award.

⚠️ The employee chooses the physician — but it is a two-step rule, and neither simplification is right. § 71-3-15: *"The injured employee shall have the right to accept the services furnished by the employer or, in his discretion, to select one (1) competent physician of his choosing."* The limit: *"Referrals by the chosen physician shall be limited to one (1) physician within a specialty or subspecialty area. Except in an emergency ... any additional selection of physicians by the injured employee or further referrals must be approved by the employer."* So it is employee choice of one physician, then employer approval beyond one referral per specialty.

The employer's lien on a third-party recovery is strong. § 71-3-71 entitles the employer or insurer to repayment *"from the NET proceeds"* — reasonable costs of collection come off the top first, then the lien is discharged, and *"any excess shall belong to the injured employee."* ⚠️ The employee must notify the employer and carrier within fifteen days of filing suit. ⚠️ No made-whole doctrine and no pro-rata fee reduction appear in the statute — the only reduction is costs of collection.

⚠️ AND EXCLUSIVITY DOES NOT BAR A BAD-FAITH ACTION AGAINST THE COMP CARRIER. § 71-3-9 makes compensation *"exclusive and in place of all other liability,"* but *Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Ins. Co. v. Holland*, 469 So. 2d 55 (Miss. 1984), held the exclusivity provision *"does not bar an action by the employee against the insurance carrier for the commission of an intentional tort."* The clause reaches only liability arising from the workplace injury itself, not the separate, independent injury caused by the carrier's intentional refusal to pay. The standard is refusal to pay "without an arguable basis therefor."

⚠️ And the statutory penalties do not preempt the tort. The 10% and 20% additions are "adequate compensation for negligent conduct" but "were not intended as exclusive remedies for intentional wrongdoings." Negligent delay draws the statutory penalty. Intentional refusal without an arguable basis is an independent tort, outside the Act, with punitive exposure.

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