Caminetti v. Imperial Mutual Life Insurance Co.

139 P.2d 681, 59 Cal. App. 2d 476, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 344
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 29, 1943
DocketCiv. 13703
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 139 P.2d 681 (Caminetti v. Imperial Mutual Life Insurance Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Caminetti v. Imperial Mutual Life Insurance Co., 139 P.2d 681, 59 Cal. App. 2d 476, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 344 (Cal. Ct. App. 1943).

Opinions

WHITE, J.

This is an appeal by the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California from a judgment rendered pursuant to section 1012 of the Insurance Code restoring to Imperial Mutual Life Insurance Company (hereinafter referred to as Imperial Mutual) business and properties which had theretofore been taken over by the commissioner under section 1011 of the Insurance Code.

The insurance company here involved was incorporated in 1927 as a mutual benefit association under the assessment plan as provided for in what was commonly known as chapter 4 of the Civil Code. Chapter 4 was thereafter superseded by chapter 8 of the Insurance Code (secs. 10640 to 10780, inclusive) , and all such chapter 4 mutual benefit associations were automatically placed under chapter 8 of the Insurance Code (see. 10669, Ins. Code).

Prom the adoption of the Insurance Code on September 15, 1935, until the latter part of 1936, Imperial Mutual was operated under chapter 8 of part 2, division 2 of that code. It was, in other words, conducted upon the “mutual benefit assessment plan.” Its policies did not provide for “premiums” but for “assessments” to be levied as death claims arose. At the time chapter 8 was enacted the law provided (secs. 10739 to 10744, Ins. Code) that such an association could transform itself into a chapter 9 company without reincorporating, and thereafter be governed by the provisions of such last mentioned chapter. In the ease of Imperial Mutual, such transformation was accomplished in the latter part of 1936. At that time its name was changed from Imperial Mutual Life Insurance [480]*480Association to Imperial Mutual Life Insurance Company; it altered its plan of doing business; prepared new policies and thereafter operated under the provisions of chapter 9 as to all business subsequently written. It should here be noted that chapter 8 does not provide for reserves on policies, but chapter 9 requires “modified” or reduced reserves for the first five policy years and thereafter full reserves (Ins. Code, sec. 10870). So far as the company here involved is concerned, full reserves were required to be maintained on business procured and policies issued after December 31, 1941 (Ins. Code, see. 10870).

On June 16, 1941, A. Caminetti, Jr., in his capacity as Insurance Commissioner of the State of California and pursuant to the provisions of section 1011° of the Insurance Code, filed in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County his application for an order appointing him as conservator of Imperial Mutual and directing him as such conservator to take possession of respondent insurance company. Upon the issuance of such order, appellant Insurance Commissioner took possession of the books, records and property of respondent and proceeded to conduct, as such conservator, respondent’s insurance business. Thereafter,, and pursuant to the provisions of section 1012 of the Insurance Code, respondent made application to said superior court for an order permitting it to resume title and possession of its property and to be permitted to conduct its own business. The last mentioned code section provides that the order granted pursuant to section 1011 of the Insurance Code shall continue in force and effect until an application, such as was made by respondent insurance company here, is filed and “it shall, after a full hearing, appear to said court that the ground for said order directing the commissioner to take title and possession does not exist or has been removed and that said person can properly resume title and possession of its property and the conduct of its business.”

Upon conclusion of such hearing the superior court rendered its judgment, denominated “interlocutory,” wherein it was recited that the ground for the commissioner’s action in taking over the respondent’s business did not exist or had been removed, and that the insurance company could properly resume possession of its property and conduct of its business; that the order issued by the court on June 16, 1941, in accordance with Insurance Code section 1011, appointing the com[481]*481missioner as conservator, be terminated and cancelled and the conservatorship created by such order be dissolved; and that the said insurance company take immediate possession of its properties; that the commissioner forthwith restore such properties to respondent. Following the foregoing, the judgment provided:

“The court retains jurisdiction of the matter for the purpose of entering a final judgment, upon motion of either party or on the court’s own motion, such final judgment to make final disposition of this proceeding and the property and affairs of the respondent company, and which final judgment may be in accord with the interlocutory judgment or different therefrom, depending upon such further showing as may be made to the court.
“That until such final judgment shall have been entered, this court retains complete jurisdiction in the premises and in these proceedings for all purposes, including the making, upon proper showing, of any other or further appropriate order, and the amending or vacation of this interlocutory judgment.
“The matter is now continued on the court’s calendar until February 10, 1943, at 10 o’clock a.m., or as soon thereafter as counsel can be heard, in department 12 of this court, for the presentation of such supplementary evidence, the hearing of such argument, and the making of such motions as may be meet and proper in the premises, with the right reserved to either party, however, to have set on the court’s calendar at any time convenient to the court in the meantime, any matter appropriate to the premises.”

So far as the factual background surrounding this litigation is concerned, the record discloses that for some time prior to 1937, Mr. Mark Pierce, president of Pierce Brothers, a corporation, which operates a large undertaking business in the city of Los Angeles, had been interested in what was then a comparatively new subject, referred to as burial insurance. Such insurance was and is legally authorized in this state (Ins. Code, sec. 10240). By the terms of the code section just cited, such insurance is referred to as a “burial contract”; is denominated a life policy which contains an agreement for a valuable consideration, to dispose of the remains of any person living at the time such policy is executed. Policies of this character are payable to a funeral director who receives the proceeds thereof in partial or complete payment of the [482]*482costs for the funeral of the insured. Believing that the establishment of such an insurance company would be of benefit to his mortuary; to funeral directors generally, and as well fill what he conceived to be a public need, Mr. Pierce traveled east where he consulted with the officers of two large life insurance companies in an endeavor to prevail upon them to write and issue such policies in the State of California; but for various reasons the companies interviewed declined to enter such a field of insurance. Mr. Pierce then determined upon identifying himself with some local company in Southern California which would undertake to issue such policies. While seeking an appropriate company for such purposes, Mr. Pierce came in contact with Mr. F. W. Bailey who was then president and a director of Imperial Mutual and held proxies from most of its members. Mr. Bailey’s wife was also a company director, while an employee of the company served as the third director thereof. After some negotiations between Mr. Pierce and Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
139 P.2d 681, 59 Cal. App. 2d 476, 1943 Cal. App. LEXIS 344, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/caminetti-v-imperial-mutual-life-insurance-co-calctapp-1943.