Privacy Policy

Important Notice About Our Information Practices and The Protection of Your Privacy

Sterling Casualty Insurance Company

We value your business and the trust you’ve placed with us. That’s why we want to assure you that we are serious about keeping your personal information private before, during and after your business relationship with us. This notice describes our policy regarding the collection, disclosure and protection of your non-public personal information.

Information We Collect.

We obtain most of our information directly from applicants and policyholders. Depending on the nature of your insurance transaction, we may also collect information about you or other individuals proposed for insurance from other sources.

Personal Data includes any identifying information about you or other persons proposed for insurance, such as:

Application information: You provide this on your application, through your agent or broker, by phone, or online. We may also obtain it from directories and other outside sources. It includes your name, residence address, e-mail address, phone number, age, date of birth, gender, marital status, occupation, social security number and type of vehicle. It also includes information about other drivers listed within your application;
Transaction Information: This is information about your transactions with us, our affiliates, or others. It includes your insurance coverages, limits and rates, and payment and claims history. Information collected in conjunction with an accident and claim investigation and handling. It also includes information that we require for billing and payment processing.; and
Information we receive from other agents, brokers, administrators, investigators, insurance support agencies, legal counsel, consumer reporting agencies and government reporting agencies. The information received from these sources may include inspections and investigative reports, audits, consumer reports, driving records, asset information, insurance underwriting records, records relating to prior insurance, and legal opinions.

If you visit or use the Sterling Casualty Insurance website or one of our subsidiaries, we may use “cookies” (small files transferred from our website to your hard drive) to recognize repeat users, track usage and assist your access to and use of the site. We do not use “cookies” to gather personal data, and we do not link cookies to identifiable information, such as your policy number. The “cookies” only enable you to use our website more easily.

Unless it is specifically stated otherwise in an amended Privacy Policy Notice, no additional information will be collected about you.

Information We May Disclose to Affiliates and Third Parties.

We do not sell personal data or customer lists to anyone. We do not disclose any nonpublic personal information about our customers or former customers to anyone, except as permitted by law. We may disclose some or all of the nonpublic personal information described above that we collect about you to the following affiliates and nonaffiliated third parties to effect, administer, or enforce your insurance transaction:

Claims administrators;
Insurance agents or brokers;
Appraisers, Inspectors, and other insurance support services;
Consumer reporting agencies for the purposes of obtaining a driving record, household data, criminal history data and claims history in order to determine eligibility for coverage or to process your requested transaction;
Service providers that assist us in underwriting, processing payments, or investigating and adjusting claims including your insurance broker.
Medical-care facilities or providers in order to process your claim and verify coverage.
Law Enforcement or other governmental agencies as required by law or third parties who assist in detecting or preventing criminal activity, fraud, material misrepresentation or material nondisclosure in connection with an insurance or claim transaction
An affiliate or third party for the purpose of conducting an audit of the insurance institution or agent in connection with the operations or services provided;
To a lien holder, mortgagee, assignee, or other person having a legal or beneficial interest in the policy of insurance; and
To persons or agencies lawfully entitled to such information pursuant to a facially valid subpoena or court order.
Another insured or claimant.
Research organizations to conduct studies regarding claims results and insurance practices provided that no individual is identified in any study or report.
Insurance and financial companies affiliated with us, as identified below, for processing or marketing of our insurance-related products or services.

Information obtained from a report prepared by an insurance support organization may be retained by the insurance support organization and disclosed to other persons. Personal information and other privileged information collected by us or your agent may in certain circumstances be disclosed to third parties without your authorization, as permitted or required by law.

When we use Service Providers to help us with the services shown above, we make every effort to use Service Providers that agree to keep your data private and not use it for any other purpose. We do not share with or sell consumer data to third parties for marketing. We only use medical information to process, evaluate, or defend claims. We do not share medical information without your prior consent.

We share personal data with insurance data banks that collect information about claim history, accident faults, and amounts paid. Insurance data banks may retain personal data and disclose it to other insurance companies and others legally entitled to see it.

A list of our affiliated companies is shown below. When we share personal data with affiliates it is only the minimum necessary to contact you about new products or special offers. The law allows us to share your data with our affiliates for marketing purposes. We send current customers a privacy notice each year. If we change our practices, we will inform you promptly. We treat former customer data the same way as current customer data.

California Residents Supplement to Privacy Policy

This Supplement ("Supplement") describes our collection and use of Personal Information that is subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively “CCPA”) and describes the rights of Consumers under the CCPA. This Supplement does not apply to information that is exempt from the CCPA. This Supplement controls if there is a conflict with our privacy policy. This policy applies to residents of the State of California only.

For the purposes of this Policy, personal information does not include publicly available information from government records or de-identified or aggregated information.

We have collected the following categories of personal information:

Category of Personal Information Collected	Examples	Disclosed for a Business Purpose
Identifiers	Name, postal address, email address, date of birth, telephone number, driver’s license number or state identification card number, credit or debit card number or other similar identifiers	YES
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))	Name, signature, physical characteristics or description, address, telephone number, credit or debit card number, driver’s license number or state identification card number, education or employment history	YES
Protected classification characteristics under California or federal law	Age, race, ancestry, national origin, marital status, medical condition, physical or mental disability, sex (including gender, gender identify, gender expression), same-sex orientation for same-sex benefits, veteran, military status or immigration status	YES
Commercial Information	Records of personal property	YES
Internet or Network Activity	Browser history, IP address, mobile device or information regarding your interaction with our website	YES
Geolocation data	Physical location or movements	YES
Audio, electronic, or visual data	Audio recordings, pictures and videos	YES
Professional or employment-related information	Current job or name of employer	YES
Inferences drawn from other personal information	Profile reflecting a person's preferences, characteristics, behaviour, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes	YES
Sensitive Personal Information	Driver’s License, state identification card, social security number, racial or ethnic origin, health information or sexual orientation	YES

Personal Information also includes the following categories of Sensitive Personal Information:

Sensitive Identifiers, meaning Personal Information that reveals a Consumer's Social Security, driver's license, state identification card, or passport number.
Sensitive Account Information, meaning Personal Information that reveals a Consumer's account log-in, financial account, debit card, or credit card number in combination with any required security or access code, password, or credentials allowing access to an account.
Sensitive Geolocation Information, meaning Personal Information that reveals a Consumer's geolocation within an area that is equal to or less than the area of a circle with a radius of 1850 feet.
Sensitive Demographics, meaning Personal Information that reveals a Consumer's racial or ethnic origin, religious or philosophical beliefs, or union membership.
Sensitive Communications, meaning the contents of a Consumer's mail, email, and text messages unless we are the intended recipient of the communication.
Sensitive Genetics Information, meaning a Consumer's genetic data.
Sensitive Health Information, meaning Personal Information collected and analyzed concerning a Consumer's health.
Sensitive Sexual Information, meaning Personal Information collected and analyzed concerning a Consumer's sex life or sexual orientation.

Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, to establish or defend legal claims, or for the compliance and protection purposes identified above.

Your California Privacy Rights
The CCPA provides California residents with certain rights regarding their personal information. However, these rights are not absolute and are subject to certain exceptions. This section explains those rights.

Right to Know About Your Personal Information
You have the right to request that Sterling Casualty provide you with information regarding the personal information Sterling Casualty has collected about you beyond the preceding (12) months. Once we receive your request and verify your identity, we will disclose to you, subject to any exemptions under the CCPA, the following:

Categories of personal information collected;

Categories of sources from which the personal information is collected;
Business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing the personal information;
Categories of third parties to whom Sterling Casualty disclosed the personal information; and
Specific pieces of personal information Sterling Casualty has collected.

Right to Delete Your Personal Information

You have the right to request that Sterling Casualty delete the personal information that we have collected from you. However, this right does not apply to any personal information exempt under the CCPA. Once we receive your request and verify your identity, we will delete any personal information in our records that is not subject to any of the CCPA exemptions.

Right to Limit the Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

You have the right to limit the use and disclosure of your sensitive personal information. However, we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information in ways subject to the right of California residents to limit the use or disclosure of sensitive personal information under the CCPA. If we change our practices in the future, we will notify you by updating this Policy.

Right to Opt-Out of the Selling or Sharing of Personal Information

You have the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information to third parties to not sell or share your personal information. However, we do not and have not in the preceding 12 months, sold or shared (in this context, share means the use of your Personal Information for cross-contextual behavioral advertising) your personal information.

Right to Non-Discrimination

You have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment by Sterling Casualty Insurance Company for exercising your CCPA rights.

Your Right to Review and Correct Personal Data

If you wish to review your personal data, please send a written response to:

Privacy Coordinator for Sterling Casualty Insurance Company
P.O. Box 10331
Santa Ana, CA 92711

Include your full name, address, and policy number(s). You must describe the kind of information you want to review and state that your request is in response to this notice. We may charge a small fee to collect and send the data to you. Within 30 business days, we will describe what is available and how you may request corrections. We will also name anyone we show as having received the information within two years prior to your request. Finally, we will identify the companies that have provided Consumer Report Information about you. Submitting your request through one of these channels allows us to verify your identity as required by the CCPA. As such, we cannot accept requests through other channels. We cannot process your request if you do not provide us with sufficient detail to allow us to understand and respond to it. We reserve the right to confirm your current California residency. If we cannot successfully verify your identity, we will inform you of that fact. We may require additional time to process your request, as permitted by the CCPA. We will advise you within 30 business days after receiving your request if an extension is necessary and why it is needed.

We will not provide information that we feel is privileged, such as information about insurance claims or lawsuits.

If you see any mistakes, let us know and we will review them. Within 30 business days, we will either make the requested correction or tell you why we will not. We cannot correct Consumer Report Information. To do this, you must contact the consumer reporting agency that provided it.

If we make your requested correction, we will notify you in writing. We will also notify anyone you name who may have received the information within the previous two years. If required by law, we will also notify others who may have given it to or received it from us. If we refuse to make the requested correction, you may file with us a concise written statement about why you object. That statement should include the information you think is correct. We will include your statement in your file. We will send it to the same persons to whom we would send a copy of any correction or change.

Submitting A Request Through Your Authorized Agent

You have the option to designate an authorized agent to submit a request on your behalf. We may require you and your authorized agent to verify your identity or confirm that the agent has permission to submit a request on your behalf.

Personal Information of Children Under the Age of 16

Sterling Casualty does not seek to, nor do we knowingly collect, information directly from children under the age of 16. As we do not sell or share any personal information, we also have not sold or shared the personal information of children under the age of 16.

Companies Affiliated with Sterling Casualty

H&H Agency, Inc
Sterling MGA, LLC

For More Information

Should you have further questions regarding our privacy policy, you may email the Sterling Casualty Privacy Coordinator at [email protected] or you can write to the Privacy Coordinator at:

Privacy Coordinator for Sterling Casualty Insurance Company
P.O. Box 10331
Santa Ana, CA 92711