In order to provide for the merger of the Seastrand Health Insurance Guaranty Association with and into the California Life Insurance Guaranty Association, the following shall apply:

(a) Notwithstanding the repeal of the California Life Insurance Guaranty Association Act and the Seastrand Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act, the Seastrand Health Insurance Guaranty Association shall, effective immediately prior to that repeal, be merged with and into the California Life Insurance Guaranty Association, which shall then be known as the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association.

(b) Notwithstanding the repeal of the California Life Insurance Guaranty Association Act and the Seastrand Health Insurance Guaranty Association Act, but subject to the last sentence of this subdivision, all of the following shall apply:

(1) The association shall succeed, without other transfer, to all the rights, powers, privileges, assets, and property of each of the California Life Insurance Guaranty Association and the Seastrand Health Insurance Guaranty Association, which for the purposes of this section shall be referred collectively as the merging associations. The association shall be subject to all debts, obligations, and liabilities of each merging association in the same manner as if the association had itself incurred them, in each case under the law in effect prior to the effective date of this article, as those rights, powers, privileges, obligations, debts, and liabilities may be amended and restated in this article, and in each case with respect to member insurers that became impaired insurers or insolvent insurers prior to the effective date of this article and after October 1, 1990. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the association shall succeed to (A) all collected, uncollected, or unbilled assessments of the merging associations, (B) all cash, bank accounts, and accrued interest of the merging associations, (C) all rights, powers, privileges, and obligations of the merging associations under any contracts or commitments of the merging association, (D) all subrogations, assignments, and creditor rights and interests of the merging associations, and (E) all rights, powers, privileges, and obligations of each of the trusts established on December 31, 1993, by each of the merging associations as settlor.

(2) All rights of creditors and all liens upon the property of each of the merging associations shall be preserved unimpaired, provided that the liens upon property of a merging association shall be limited to the property affected thereby immediately prior to the effective date of this article.

(3) Any action or proceeding pending by or against a merging association may be prosecuted to judgment, which shall bind the association, or the association may be proceeded against or be substituted in its place.

Notwithstanding the other provisions of this subdivision, all debts, obligations, and liabilities of a merging association that were to be paid out of a specified account of the merging association shall be paid solely out of the assets of that merging association that were available to that merging association to pay those debts and liabilities, including, without limitation, collected, uncollected, or unbilled assessments, and any and all subrogation, assignment, and creditor rights, or out of assets in the same type of account of the association.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary in this article:

(1) It is the intent of this section to preserve rights, powers, privileges, assets, property, debts, obligations, and liabilities of each of the merging associations, and not to provide contract owners and policy owners, or their respective payees, beneficiaries, or assignees, with duplicative rights, powers, privileges, assets, or property.

(2) Accordingly, no contract owner and policy owner, and no contract owner’s or policy owner’s payee, beneficiary, or assignee, shall be entitled to (A) a recovery from the association that is duplicative of a previous recovery from either of the merging associations, or the trust established by either merging association, or (B) a recovery from the association on account of a claim against either of the merging associations where the association is liable with respect to a claim under the same policy or contract under this article.

(Amended by Stats. 2010, Ch. 334, Sec. 6. (SB 1408) Effective September 27, 2010.)