Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion

EY GENERAL
EWAS
March 13, 19%
Hon. J. Byron Saunders, Chairman
Board of Insurance Commissioners
International Life Building
Austin, Texas
Opinion No. S-191
Re: Can county mutual insurance
companies write accidental
death policies.
Dear Mr. Saunders:
You have asked for the opinion of this office as
to whether or not county mutual insurance companies can write
accidental death policies.
Articles 17.01 and 17.25 of the Texas Insurance Code
limit county mutual insurance companies as to the types of
properties which may be insured, and as to the types of pro-
tection offered the policyholder.
Article 17.01 specifically limits the subject matter
of insurance, and reads in part as follows:
“Unless they are restricted by their char-
ters, they may write insurance against said
hazards:
“(a) On both rural and urban dwellings and
attendant outhouses and yard buildings and all
their contents for home and personal use -- in-
cluding family vehicles, musical instruments and
libraries;
“(b) On barns and other farm, dairy, truck
garden, hennery and ranch buildings and improve-
ments of every description;
“(Cl On all vehicles, harness, implements,
tools and machinery of every kind and description
used on and about farms, truck gardens, dairies,
henneries or ranches;
Hon. J. Byron Saunders, page 2 (S-191)
“(a) On all fruits and products, other than
growing crops, and all fowls, domestic animals
and livestock of every description, produced,
raised, grown, kept or used on truck gardens, hen-
neries, farms, ranches and dairies; and
l’(e) On church houses, county school houses,
country lodge rooms and country recreation halls,
other than road houses and public dance halls and
their contents.”
Section 1 of Article 17.25 specifically refers back
to Article 17.01, and reads as follows:
“Section 1. Rew. County Mutual insur-
ance companies operating under the provisions of
this Chapter shall be authorized to write insurance
against loss or damage from any hazard provided
therein or that any other fire or windstorm insur-
ance company operating in Texas may write on prop-
erty described in Article 17.01 of this Chapter.
Countv -insurance cm ouawe to write
casualtv lines for statewide o+.eration mav rite al&
Lines of automobile insurance, provided thzt no
such company shall assume a risk on any one hazard
greater than five (544 per cent of its assets un-
less such excess shall be promptly reinsured.&
The underlined phrase, supra, added by Senate Bill 15
of the 54th Legislature, does not embrace accident insurance,
nor does it authorize a county.mutual to engage in the casualty
field generally, but rather, casualty lines with limitations.
(See Attorney General’s Opinion No. S-168 to the effect that
county mutual insurance companies may write liability insurance
on automobile s. )
Section 1 of Article 17.25 was amended by Senate Bill
15 of the 54th Legislature, and the caption reads in part as
follows:
‘1. . by amending Section 1 of Article 17.25 of
the Code si as to provide that in addition to lines
heretofore authorized, county mutual insurance compan-
ies by qualifying may write all lines of automobile
insurance a -tatlou. . . .‘I*
* Emphasis added.
Hon. J. Byron Saunders, page 3 (s-191)
Because of the specific limitationsof Articles
17.01 and 1725, it is clear that the Legislature did not
intend to authorize such policies, and it is the opinion
of this office that county mutual insurance companies can-
not write accidentaldeath policies on the lives of their
insureds.
County mutual insurance companies cannot
write accidentaldeath policies on the lives of
their insureds.
APPROVED: Yours very truly,
J. Fred Jones JOHN BEN SIEPPERD
State Affairs Division Attorney General
W. V. Geppert
Reviewer
J. A. Amis, Jr.
By(lPh-K@.+a
Robert 0, Fagg
Reviewer Assistant
L. W. Gray
Special Reviewer
Davis Grant
First ,Assistant
John Ben Shepperd
Attorney General