17:32-2. Prerequisites to admission

No such company shall be admitted until it:

a. Files in the department a certified copy of its charter, deed settlement or certificate of organization, and a statement of its financial condition and business, in the form and detail the commissioner requires, signed and sworn to by its president and secretary or other proper officer;

b. Satisfies the commissioner that it is fully and legally organized under the laws of its State or country to do the business it proposes to transact; that its condition or methods of operation are not such as would render its operation hazardous to the public or its policyholders in this State; that it has, if a stock company, a fully paid-up, well invested and unimpaired capital and surplus of not less than the amount required by this subtitle to be possessed by a stock insurance company of this State transacting the same class or classes of insurance, or if a mutual company, that it has net cash assets of that amount;

c. Constitutes, by a duly executed instrument filed in the department, the commissioner and his successor in office its true and lawful attorney, upon whom all original process in any action or legal proceeding against it may be served, and therein agrees that any original process against it which may be served upon the commissioner shall be of the same force and validity as if served on the company, and that the authority thereof shall continue in force irrevocable so long as any liability of the company remains outstanding in this State; and

d. Obtains from the commissioner a certificate that it has complied with all the requirements of this subtitle applicable to it, and is authorized to transact business in this State. This certificate shall expire on May 1 of the following year, and shall be renewed each year before May 1; provided, that the commissioner may refuse to issue or renew any such certificate of authority if, in his judgment, such refusal will best protect the interests of the people of this State or if the company fails to comply substantially with any requirement or limitation of this subtitle applicable to it or any rule or regulation promulgated by the commissioner thereunder which in the judgment of the commission is reasonably necessary to protect the interests of the people of this State, but the commissioner may not refuse to renew any such certificate except after notice and hearing; and provided, that all such certificates outstanding and in force at the date of the passage of this act shall continue in full force and effect until May 1 next following the approval of this act, unless sooner revoked by the commissioner in accordance with section 17:32-14 of this Title; and provided, further, that no such certificate shall be issued by the commissioner if, in the judgment of the commissioner, the name of such company shall so closely resemble the name of any existing company authorized to transact business in this State as to be likely to mislead the public, unless such company shall agree to use, wherever its name shall appear or be used by it in connection with the transaction of business in this State, in type of equal size and prominence, the name of the State in which incorporated

Amended 1938,c.289,s.10; 1958,c.40,s.1.