48.31.040 - Rehabilitation -- Order -- Termination.

Rehabilitation — Order — Termination.

(1) An order to rehabilitate a domestic insurer shall direct the commissioner forthwith to take possession of the property of the insurer and to conduct the business thereof, and to take such steps toward removal of the causes and conditions which have made rehabilitation necessary as the court may direct.

     (2) If at any time the commissioner deems that further efforts to rehabilitate the insurer would be useless, he or she may apply to the court for an order of liquidation.

     (3) The commissioner, or any interested person upon due notice to the commissioner, at any time may apply for an order terminating the rehabilitation proceeding and permitting the insurer to resume possession of its property and the conduct of its business, but no such order shall be granted except when, after a full hearing, the court has determined that the purposes of the proceedings have been fully accomplished.

     (4) An order to rehabilitate the business of a domestic insurer, or an alien insurer domiciled in this state, shall appoint the commissioner and his or her successors in office as the rehabilitator, and shall direct the rehabilitator to immediately take possession of the assets of the insurer, and to administer them under the general supervision of the court. The filing or recording of the order with the recorder of deeds of the county in this state in which the principal business of the company is conducted, or the county in this state in which the company's principal office or place of business is located, imparts the same notice as a deed or other evidence of title duly filed or recorded with that recorder of deeds would have imparted. The order to rehabilitate the insurer by operation of law vests title to all assets of the insurer in the rehabilitator.

     (5) An order issued under this section requires accountings to the court by the rehabilitator. Accountings must be done at such intervals as the court specifies in its order, but no less frequently than semiannually.

     (6) Entry of an order of rehabilitation does not constitute an anticipatory breach of contracts of the insurer nor may it be grounds for retroactive revocation or retroactive cancellation of contracts of the insurer, unless the revocation or cancellation is done by the rehabilitator.

[1993 c 462 § 76; 1947 c 79 § .31.04; Rem. Supp. 1947 § 45.31.04.]

Notes: Severability -- Implementation -- 1993 c 462: See RCW 48.31B.901 and 48.31B.902.