Subdivision 1. Rebate defined and prohibited. No insurance company or association, however constituted or entitled, including any affiliate of the insurance company or association, doing business in this state, nor any officer, agent, subagent, solicitor, employee, intermediary, or representative thereof, shall make or permit any advantage or distinction in favor of any insured individual, firm, corporation, or association with respect to the amount of premium named in, or to be paid on, any policy of insurance, or shall offer to pay or allow directly or indirectly or by means of any device or artifice, as inducements to insurance, any rebate or premium payable on the policy, or any special favor or advantage in the dividends or other profit to accrue thereon, or any valuable consideration or inducement not specified in the policy contract of insurance, or give, sell, or purchase, offer to give, sell or purchase, as inducement to insure or in connection therewith, any stocks, bonds, or other securities of any insurance company or other corporation, association, partnership, or individual, or any dividends or profits accrued or to accrue thereon, or anything of value, not specified in the policy. For purposes of this section, "affiliate" has the meaning given in section 60D.15, subdivision 2.

Subd. 2. Insured prohibited from receiving rebates. No person shall receive or accept from any such company or association, including any affiliate of the insurance company or association, or from any of its officers, agents, subagents, solicitors, employees, intermediaries, or representatives, or any other person any such rebate of premium payable on the policy, or any special favor or advantage in the dividends or other financial profits accrued, or to accrue, thereon, or any valuable consideration or inducement not specified in the policy of insurance. No person shall be excused from testifying, or from producing any books, papers, contracts, agreements, or documents, at the trial of any other person, copartnership, association, or company charged with violation of any provision of this section on the ground that the testimony or evidence may tend to incriminate; but no person shall be prosecuted for any act concerning which the person shall be compelled to so testify or produce evidence, documentary or otherwise, except for perjury committed in so testifying.

Subd. 3. Penalty for rebate. Any company, association, or individual violating any provisions of this section, whether the violation be in the giving or accepting of anything herein prohibited, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $60 nor more than $200. In the case of a violation by an affiliate or by an individual on behalf of an affiliate, this subdivision applies to the insurance company or association.

Subd. 4. Exceptions. (a) The provisions of this section shall not apply to any policy procured by officers, agents, subagents, employees, intermediaries, or representatives wholly and solely upon property of which they are, respectively, the owner at the time of procuring the policy, where the officers, agents, subagents, employees, intermediaries, or representatives are, and have been for more than six months prior to the issuing of the policy, regularly employed by, or connected with, the company or association issuing the policy; and any life insurance company doing business in this state may issue industrial policies of life or endowment insurance, with or without annuities, with special rates of premiums less than the usual rates of premiums for these policies, to members of labor organizations, credit unions, lodges, beneficial societies, or similar organizations, or employees of one employer, who, through their secretary or employer, may take out insurance in an aggregate of not less than 50 members and pay their premiums through the secretary or employer.

(b) A promotional advertising item of $25 or less or a gift of $25 or less per year is not a rebate if the receipt of the item or gift is not conditioned upon purchase of an insurance policy or product.

History: 1967 c 395 art 12 s 8; 1986 c 444; 1998 c 375 s 1-3; 2002 c 330 s 30,34; 2002 c 331 s 18; 2002 c 342 s 11; 2002 c 357 s 2; 2010 c 384 s 29