507C.12 Grounds for rehabilitation.

1. The commissioner may petition the district court for an order to rehabilitate a domestic insurer or an alien insurer domiciled in this state on any of the following grounds:

a. The insurer is in a condition that the further transaction of business would be financially hazardous to its policyholders, creditors, or the public.

b. There is reasonable cause to believe that there has been embezzlement from the insurer, wrongful sequestration or diversion of the insurer’s assets, forgery or fraud affecting the insurer, or other illegal conduct in, by, or with respect to the insurer that, if established, would endanger assets in an amount threatening the solvency of the insurer.

c. The insurer has failed to remove a person, whether an officer, manager, general agent, employee, or other person, who in fact has executive authority in the insurer, if the person has been found after notice and hearing by the commissioner to be dishonest or untrustworthy in a way affecting the insurer’s business.

d. Control of the insurer is in a person or persons found after notice and hearing to be untrustworthy. Control may be by stock ownership or by other means and may be direct or indirect.

e. A person who in fact has executive authority in the insurer, whether an officer, manager, general agent, director or trustee, employee, or other person has refused to be examined under oath by the commissioner concerning the insurer’s affairs, in this state or elsewhere, and after reasonable notice of the fact the insurer has failed promptly and effectively to terminate the employment and status of the person and all the person’s influence on management.

f. After demand by the commissioner under chapter 507 or under this chapter, the insurer has failed to promptly make available for examination any of its property, books, accounts, documents, or other records, or those of a subsidiary or related company within the control of the insurer, or those of a person having executive authority in the insurer so far as they pertain to the insurer.

g. Without first obtaining the written consent of the commissioner, the insurer has transferred, or attempted to transfer, in a manner contrary to chapter 521 or 521A, substantially its entire property or business, or has entered into a transaction the effect of which is to merge, consolidate, or reinsure substantially its entire property or business in or with the property or business of any other person.

h. The insurer or its property has been or is the subject of an application for the appointment of a receiver, trustee, custodian, conservator or sequestrator or similar fiduciary of the insurer of its property other than as authorized under the insurance laws of this state, and the appointment has been made or is imminent, and the appointment might oust the court of this state of jurisdiction or might prejudice orderly delinquency proceedings under this chapter.

i. Within the previous three years the insurer has willfully violated its charter or articles of incorporation, its bylaws, an insurance law of this state, or a valid order of the commissioner under section 507C.9.

j. The insurer has failed to pay within sixty days after the due date an obligation to a state or any subdivision of a state or a judgment entered in a state, if the court in which the judgment was entered had jurisdiction over the subject matter. However, nonpayment shall not be a ground until sixty days after a good faith effort by the insurer to contest the obligation has been terminated whether the effort is before the commissioner or in the courts, or the insurer has systematically attempted to compromise or renegotiate previously agreed settlements with its creditors on the ground that it is financially unable to pay its obligations in full.

k. The insurer has failed to file its annual report or other financial report required within the time allowed and, after written demand by the commissioner, has failed to immediately give an adequate explanation.

l. The board of directors or the holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote, or a majority of those individuals entitled to the control of those entities request or consent to rehabilitation under this chapter.

2. If the petition alleges that extraordinary circumstances exist and that there is imminent substantial risk to the insurer’s solvency if the insurer is not immediately placed into rehabilitation, the court may issue, ex parte and without a hearing, the requested order of rehabilitation. An insurer subject to an ex parte order under this section may petition the court after the issuance of the order for a hearing and review of the order. The court shall hold the hearing and review not more than fifteen days after the request. A hearing under this section may be held privately in chambers. Upon the request of the insurer, the hearing shall be held privately in chambers.

84 Acts, ch 1175, §12; 91 Acts, ch 26, §35; 2012 Acts, ch 1023, §157

Referred to in §507C.9, 507C.16, 507C.17, 507C.50, 507C.51