377.020. Incorporation of companies, procedure.
Incorporation of companies, procedure.
377.020. 1. Any number of persons, not less than seven, being citizensof the state of Missouri, may upon application to the circuit court of thecounty or city in which it is proposed to locate the chief offices or place ofbusiness, become a body politic or corporate under the name and styledesignated in the application, for the purpose of doing a life or casualty, orlife and casualty insurance business on the assessment plan; said applicationshall in all cases be accompanied by the articles of association, oragreements, setting forth specifically the objects and purposes of theproposed corporation, as well as the methods and plans by which its businessshall be conducted, and upon a hearing of the same, the court may grant orreject the application as it may deem best.
2. If the application is granted it shall be the duty of the applicantto cause a copy of said articles, with a copy of the decree of the court dulycertified by the clerk thereof, and by him endorsed on or attached thereto, tobe recorded in the office of the recorder of deeds in the county in which saidcorporation is located and then filed in the office of the secretary of state.
3. The secretary of state shall thereupon issue to the applicantsaforesaid a certified copy of the said articles, with the several certificatesthereon, as filed in his office, which certified copy shall be the charter ofincorporation, and thereupon said applicants, their associates and successors,shall be created and be a body politic and corporate by the corporate name asaforesaid, and such charter, together with sections 377.010 to 377.190, shallbe received in all courts and places as legal evidence of the incorporation ofthe said association, society or company; provided, that no decree shall bemade, and no certificate of incorporation issued as aforesaid until thedirector of the department of insurance, financial institutions andprofessional registration shall certify that the proposed name of thecorporation is not the same and does not resemble the name of any othercorporations authorized to do business in this state, to the extent ofmisleading the public, and further that the society, association or companyseeking to be incorporated has secured applications for not less than onehundred thousand dollars insurance by not less than one hundred persons, andthat thirty thousand dollars in cash or securities, approved by the directorof the department of insurance, financial institutions and professionalregistration has been deposited with the department of insurance, financialinstitutions and professional registration, which fund shall be held in trustas a beneficiary fund by the said director of the department of insurance,financial institutions and professional registration. The term "casualtyinsurance" as used in sections 377.010 to 377.190, inclusive, shall beconstrued to mean only accident, health and hospitalization insurance.
4. After September 1, 1953, no insurance company as described herein maybe incorporated to do business on the assessment plan under the provisions ofsections 377.010 to 377.190. This provision, however, shall not be construedas restricting or abridging in any manner the right to do business under theprovisions of sections 377.010 to 377.190 of any insurance company nowincorporated and licensed to do business in this state under the assessmentplan.
(RSMo 1939 § 5857, A.L. 1951 p. 268, A.L. 1953 p. 243)Prior revisions: 1929 § 5746; 1919 § 6156; 1909 § 6951