Union Ins. v. STATE EX REL. IND. DEPT., ETC.

401 N.E.2d 1372
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 24, 1980
Docket2-978-A-330
StatusPublished

This text of 401 N.E.2d 1372 (Union Ins. v. STATE EX REL. IND. DEPT., ETC.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Ins. v. STATE EX REL. IND. DEPT., ETC., 401 N.E.2d 1372 (Ind. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

401 N.E.2d 1372 (1980)

UNION INSURANCE COMPANY, Appellant (Defendant below),
v.
STATE of Indiana EX REL. Indiana Department of Insurance, Appellee (Plaintiff below).

No. 2-978-A-330.

Court of Appeals of Indiana, Second District.

March 24, 1980.
Rehearing Denied June 2, 1980.

*1374 Paul G. Smith, Smith, Pearce, Barr & Howard, Noblesville, for appellant.

Theodore L. Sendak, Atty. Gen., Alembert W. Brayton, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellee.

BUCHANAN, Chief Judge.

CASE SUMMARY

Defendant-appellant Union Insurance Company (Union) appeals the entry of a summary judgment for a mandatory injunction against it, claiming: procedural errors; error by the trial court in ruling that Union must comply with the insurance laws and regulations of the State of Indiana; and that res judicata estops the State.

We affirm.

FACTS

The facts[1] necessary to our disposition of this appeal are: Union's predecessor, the Franklin Insurance Company, was incorporated on February 13, 1851, by a special charter granted and approved by the Indiana General Assembly which provided that the corporation was to exist for fifty years after the passage of the law, that is, until February, 1901.

The Franklin Insurance Company's charter was granted under the Indiana Constitution of 1816, which was superseded by Indiana's present Constitution adopted November 1, 1851.

In 1869, and again in 1873, the Indiana General Assembly purportedly amended the act creating the Franklin Insurance Company by granting to it, inter alia, perpetual existence.

Between the years of 1946 and 1973 Union (and its predecessors) was involved in litigation concerning Union's existence under its original charter as amended. This litigation was followed in 1975 by the State commencing this suit for a mandatory injunction in the Hamilton Superior Court, claiming the charter upon which Union based its existence had expired, thereby requiring Union to comply with the regulations of the Department of Insurance.

Union filed a motion to dismiss which the court treated as a motion for summary judgment, an evidentiary hearing was held, and summary judgment was granted for the State pursuant to Indiana Rules of Procedure, Trial Rule 56.

Union now appeals.

ISSUES

Union presents three issues for our consideration:[2]

1. Was the proper procedure followed in granting summary judgment on an injunction in that the State did not prove nor did the court find that the State did not have an adequate remedy at law and that it had suffered irreparable injury.
2. Was Union a valid charter insurance company and therefore not subject to regulation by the Department of Insurance?
*1375 3. Whether previous litigation on the issue of Union's legitimate existence require application of the doctrine of res judicata and serve as a bar to this litigation.

DECISION

ISSUE ONE — Was the proper procedure followed in granting the summary judgment.

PARTIES' CONTENTIONS — Union contends that a prerequisite to the grant of a summary judgment is proof by the plaintiff and a finding by the trial court that the plaintiff did not have an adequate remedy at law and that it had suffered irreparable injury.

The State responds that the power to seek a summary judgment is provided to the State by statute and no such showing is necessary.

CONCLUSION — Ind. Code XX-X-X-XX authorizes the State to seek a mandatory injunction if it believes an insurance company is engaging in illegal practices, and no showing of irreparable injury or an inadequate remedy at law is necessary.

The governing statute is rather specific. Ind. Code XX-X-X-XX provides, inter alia:

Whenever it shall appear, to the department that any insurance company to which this act is applicable, is conducting its business contrary to law; or in an unsafe or unauthorized manner; or that the capital or the surplus fund of any such insurance company is impaired or has been reduced below the amount required by law; or that any such insurance company has failed, neglected or refused to observe and comply with any order, rule or regulation of the department, then the department is hereby authorized ... [to] bring an action against any such insurance company, its officers and agents, to enjoin any such insurance company from conducting or engaging in any such illegal, unauthorized or unsafe practice, or to require it to restore any impairment of its capital or surplus fund, or to compel any such insurance company to observe and comply with any such lawful order, rule or regulation duly issued by the department. Every such action shall be brought by the attorney-general for the state of Indiana in the name of the state of Indiana on the relation of "the department of insurance," in the circuit or the superior court of the county in which any such insurance company has its principal place of business... . (emphasis added)

Thus, the legislature has declared that if an insurance company is engaged in any of the prohibited practices, there is no adequate legal remedy and irreparable injury exists as a matter of law. No separate proof or finding of these elements need be made. It is within the power of the Indiana General Assembly to modify common law rules and remedies. See Schrenker v. Clifford (1979), Ind., 387 N.E.2d 59; see also, e.g., Bissell Carpet Sweeper Co. v. Shane Co. (1957), 237 Ind. 188, 143 N.E.2d 415; Cook v. Mercury Lumber Co. (1977), Ind. App., 359 N.E.2d 600.

ISSUE TWO — Was Union a valid charter insurance company and therefore not subject to regulation by the Department of Insurance.

PARTIES' CONTENTIONS — Union contends that it exists pursuant to a valid charter granted in 1851 and subsequently amended to confer upon it perpetual existence; Union's status as a special insurance company immunizes it from the rules and regulations of the Department of Insurance.

The State responds that the charter by which Union claims its existence has expired and the attempts by the legislature to extend the charter were null and void.

CONCLUSION — Union's charter expired in 1901; the legislature did not have the power to extend the charter.

Oft repeated are the appellate principles that a summary judgment can be granted only if there is no material issue of fact to be determined at trial, North Miami Consolidated School District v. State ex rel. *1376 Manchester Community Schools (1973), 261 Ind. 17, 300 N.E.2d 59; Central Realty, Inc. v. Hillman's Equipment, Inc. (1969), 253 Ind. 48, 246 N.E.2d 383; Tekulve v. Turner (1979), Ind. App., 391 N.E.2d 673

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401 N.E.2d 1372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-ins-v-state-ex-rel-ind-dept-etc-indctapp-1980.