§ 31-4305 — Certificate of authority — Revocation or suspension; grounds; hearing; alternative penalty.

District of Columbia § 31-4305

• Jurisdiction: District of Columbia
• Title 31: Insurance and Securities.
• Ch. 43: Department of Insurance, Securities, And Banking with Respect to Life Companies.

Text

(a) The Commissioner shall have power to revoke or suspend the certificate of authority to transact business in the District of any company which has failed or refused to comply with any provision or requirement of this subdivision, or which:

(1) Is impaired in capital or surplus;

(2) Is insolvent;

(3) Is in such a condition that its further transaction of business in the District would be hazardous to its policyholders or creditors or to the public;

(4) Has refused or neglected to pay a valid final judgment against such company within 30 days after such judgment shall have become final either by expiration without appeal within the time when such appeal might have been perfected, or by final affirmance on appeal;

(5) Has violated any law of the District or has in the District violated its charter or exceeded its corporate powers;

(6) Has refused to submit its books, papers, accounts, records, or affairs to the reasonable inspection or examination of the Commissioner, his Deputies, or duly appointed examiners;

(7) Has an officer who has refused upon reasonable demand to be examined under oath touching its affairs;

(8) Fails to file with the Commissioner a copy of an amendment to its charter or articles of association within 30 days after the effective date of such amendment;

(9) Has had its corporate existence dissolved or its certificate of authority revoked in the state in which it was organized;

(10) Has had all its risks reinsured in their entirety in another company, without prior approval of the Commissioner;

(11) Has made, issued, circulated, or caused to be issued or circulated any estimate, illustration, circular, or statement of any sort misrepresenting either its status or the terms of any policy issued or to be issued by it, or the benefits or advantages promised thereby, or the dividends or shares of the surplus to be received thereon, or has used any name or title of any policy or class of policies misrepresenting the true nature thereof;

(12) Has filed, caused to be filed, or failed to prevent the filing of, a statement on its behalf from an independent organization attesting to its qualifications to transact business in the District for which it sought and received a certificate of authority if it knew, or should have known, that the statement was based on false, misleading, or incomplete information; or

(13) Has filed, caused to be filed, or failed to prevent the filing of a statement on its behalf from a corporate officer attesting to its qualifications to transact business in the District for which it sought and received a certificate of authority if it knew, or should have known, that the statement was based on false, misleading, or incomplete information.

(b) The Commissioner shall not revoke or suspend the certificate of authority of any company until he has given the company not less than 30 days notice of the proposed revocation or suspension and of the grounds alleged therefor, and has afforded the company an opportunity for a full hearing; provided, that if the Commissioner shall find upon examination that the further transaction of business by the company would be hazardous to the public or to the policyholders or creditors of the company in the District, he may suspend such authority without giving notice as herein required; provided further, that in lieu of revoking or suspending the certificate of authority of any company for causes enumerated in this section, after hearing as herein provided, the Commissioner may subject such company to a penalty of not more than $10,000 for any violation or not more than $25,000 for intentional violations, when in his judgment he finds that the public interest would be best served by the continued operation of the company. The amount of any such penalty shall be paid by the company through the Office of the Commissioner to the Collector of Taxes of the District of Columbia. At any hearing provided by this section, the Commissioner shall have authority to administer oaths to witnesses. Anyone testifying falsely after having been administered such an oath shall be subject to the penalties of perjury.

Legislative History

June 19, 1934, 48 Stat. 1131, ch. 672, ch. II, § 6; May 4, 1950, 64 Stat. 103, ch. 157, § 1; Feb. 22, 1958, 72 Stat. 20, Pub. L. 85-334, § 2; Mar. 14, 1985, D.C. Law 5-160, § 3(a), 32 DCR 39; May 21, 1997, D.C. Law 11-268, § 10(i), 44 DCR 1730; Oct. 21, 2000, D.C. Law 13-190, § 2(b), 47 DCR 7261; Oct. 1, 2002, D.C. Law 14-190, § 602(b), 49 DCR 6968; Mar. 13, 2004, D.C. Law 15-105, § 65, 51 DCR 881