§ 27-25-35. Service of process. (a) Every society authorized to do business in this state shall appoint in writing the commissioner of insurance and each successor in office to be its true and lawful attorney upon whom all lawful process in any action or proceeding against it shall be served, and shall agree in the writing that any lawful process against it which is served on the attorney shall be of the same legal force and validity as if served upon the society, and that the authority shall continue in force so long as any liability remains outstanding in this state. Copies of the appointment, certified by the commissioner of insurance, shall be deemed sufficient evidence and shall be admitted in evidence with the same force and effect as the original might be admitted.

(b) Service shall only be made upon the commissioner of insurance, or if absent, upon the person in charge of the commissioner's office. It shall be made in duplicate and shall constitute sufficient service upon the society. When legal process against a society is served upon the commissioner of insurance, the commissioner shall forward one of the duplicate copies by registered mail, prepaid, directed to the secretary or corresponding officer. No service shall require a society to file its answer, pleading, or defense in less than thirty (30) days from the date of mailing the copy of the service to a society. Legal process shall not be served upon a society except in the manner provided in this section. At the time of serving any process upon the commissioner of insurance, the plaintiff or complainant in the action shall pay to the commissioner of insurance a fee of five dollars ($5.00).

History of Section. (P.L. 1984, ch. 201, § 2.)