§ 36-1217 — Prohibitions and regulations relating to insurers, agents

of insurers, representatives of insurers and brokers - Group insurance and group annuity contracts exempt. In accordance with the purpose expressed in Section 1 of this act, insurers, agents of insurers, representatives of insurers and brokers shall be subject to the following prohibitions and regulations: 1. No insurer, agent of an insurer or representative of an insurer shall deliver within this state, or issue for delivery within this state, any policy of life insurance or annuity contract which uses as its name or title a phrase which does not include the words, "Life Insurance" or "Annuity Contract" unless such phrase is accompanied by other language elsewhere in the policy or contract which indicates that it is a life insurance policy or annuity contract; 2. The use of the terms "Investment," "Investment Plan," "Expansion Plan," "Profit," "Profit-sharing" and similar terms in connection with a policy of life insurance or an annuity contract, in a context or under such circumstances or conditions as to have the capacity or tendency to mislead a purchaser or prospective purchaser of such policy or contract to believe that he will receive, or that it is possible that he will receive, something other than a life insurance policy or annuity contract or some benefit not provided in the policy or contract or some benefit not available to other persons of the same class and equal expectation of life, is unlawful and is prohibited; 3. No insurer, agent or broker shall within this state: a. make any statement or reference relating to the growth of the life insurance industry in connection with any solicitation of an application for life insurance or annuity contract in a context which could reasonably be understood to interest a prospect in the purchase of shares of stock in an insurer rather than in the purchase of a life insurance policy or annuity contract, b. make any statement which reasonably gives rise to the inference that an insured or a prospective insured, by virtue of purchasing a policy of life insurance or an annuity contract, will enjoy a status common to a stockholder or will acquire a stock ownership interest in the insurer; provided, however, that nothing in this paragraph is intended to prohibit the practice of pointing out those aspects in which the status of a policyholder in a mutual life insurer is similar to that of a stockholder in a stock life insurer, c. make any reference to or statement concerning an insurer's "Investment Department," "Insured Investment Department" or similar terminology, in such a manner as to imply that the policy was sold or issued by the investment department of the life insurer, d. make any statement or reference which would reasonably tend to imply that, by purchasing a policy, the purchaser or prospective purchaser will become a member of a limited group of persons who may receive special advantages or favored treatment in the payment of dividends, unless such benefits are specifically provided in the insurance contract. This paragraph shall not apply to policies under which insured persons of one class of risk may receive dividends at a higher rate than persons of another class of risk, e. state or imply that a particular kind of policy is available for only a limited time or that only a limited number of a particular kind of policy will be offered for sale or that only a limited number of persons, or a limited class of persons, will be eligible to buy a particular kind of policy, unless such limitation is specifically provided in the insurance contract, f. state or imply that policyholders who are said to act as "centers of influence" or as an advisory board for an insurer will share, because of so acting, in the insurer's surplus earnings in some manner not available to other policyholders who are otherwise in the same class, g. describe or refer to premium payments in language which states that the payment is a "deposit" unless: (1) the payment sets up a debtor-creditor relationship between the life insurance company and the policyholder and a showing is made as to when and how the deposit may be withdrawn, (2) the term is used in conjunction with the word "premium" in such a manner as to indicate clearly the true character of the payment, or (3) the term is used in connection with pension trust or deposit administration plans, h. use the words "dividends," "cash dividends," "surplus" or similar phrases in such a manner as to state or imply that the payment of dividends is guaranteed or certain to occur, i. state or imply that a purchaser of a policy will share in a stated percentage or portion of the earnings of the insurer. Nothing in this paragraph is intended to prohibit a representation that a holder of a participating life insurance policy or annuity contract will participate in the share of the divisible surplus, if any, apportioned to the policy or contract by the insurer, j. make any statement or implication that dividends under a participating policy will be sufficient at any time to assure the receipt of benefits, such as a paid-up policy, without the further payment of premiums, unless the statement is accompanied by an adequate explanation as to what benefits or coverage would be provided at such time and the conditions under which this would occur, k. state that the insured is guaranteed certain benefits if the policy is allowed to lapse without making an adequate explanation of the nonforfeiture benefits, l. describe a life insurance policy or annuity contract or premium payments therefor in terms of "units of participation" unless accompanied by other language clearly indicating the reference to a life insurance policy or annuity contract or to premium payments, as the case may be, m. include in sales kits and prepared sales presentations proposed answers to a prospect's questions as to whether life insurance policies or annuity contracts are being sold, which are designed to avoid a clear and unequivocal statement that life insurance or annuities are the subject matter of the solicitation, n. display in any manner to a prospective policyholder any material which includes illustrations, using dollar amounts, in connection with the proposed sale of a life insurance or annuity contract unless the printed material clearly identifies that the subject, to which the dollar amounts pertain, has an economic relationship to guaranteed values and dividends of the policy, o. make any general statement that an insurer makes a profit as a result of policy lapses or surrenders, p. make comparisons to the past experience of other life insurers as a means of projecting possible experience of the soliciting insurer when those comparisons are designed to enhance the characteristics of the policy being sold by confining the comparisons to insurers having favorable experience with that type of policy without a fair disclosure of other insurers which have had unfavorable experience with such type of policy, q. state that a policy contains certain features which are not found in other life insurance policies or annuity contracts, unless that be true, r. represent an option to purchase insurance in the future in such a manner that the policyholder might reasonably infer that he is purchasing term insurance or some other form of life insurance that would result in a payment to the beneficiary in the event of the death of the policyholder, or s. make any reference to a policy of life insurance or an annuity contract in such a manner as to misrepresent the true nature of the policy contract; 4. No insurer, agent for an insurer or representative for an insurer shall, as a competitive or "twisting" device, inform any policyholder or prospective policyholder that any other insurer is required to change a policy form or related material to comply with the provisions of this act; and 5. This section shall not apply to group insurance policies nor to group annuity contracts.

Legislative History

Laws 1972, c. 223, § 4, operative Jan. 15, 1974.