Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1903-11-23
Insurance Officer At
tacks Restrain
ing Order
INSISTS ON DIVISION
WISCONSIN COMMISSIONER FILES
voLUMINoUs BRIEF IN CIR
GUT COURT.
Madison, Nov. 10.

Madison, Nov 10.
The answer to the state in the in
junction which has been secured by
tn Equitable Life Assurance Society
of the United States restraining In
surance Commissioner Host from pro-
ceeding to compel a division among
the policy holders of the company of
the surplus, will be filed in the circuit
court here today.
The answer is i'm itself a complete
argument in favor OF the policy hold
ers of the company, and in case the
injunction is dismissed and the insur-
ance commissioner is allowed to pro-
coed and compel the division of the
surplus of this company, similar &C
ton will be taken in respect to all
mutual life insurance companies ana
there will be distributed among the
policy holders OF those companies, IN
this state, from SI2,00O,O0O to $l5,-
100000.
The amount involved in this suit is
the largest which has ever been in a
state court The surplus OF the
Equitable company amounts to $751;
OOO, 900. There are thirty-nine other
companies operating in this state
with a suhplus OF over S400,000,OOO,
and should the action OF Insurance
Commissioner Host be followed in all
the other states in this country, 1t will
involve the distribution of this great
surplus.
This suit is of great interest to the
thousands of policy holders in this
state. 1t affects almost every family
in wisconsin as nearly every family is
CARRYING insurance and most OF II is
placed in mutual companies. The
answer of Insurance Commissioners
Host TO the injunctional order will be
studied with interest by all policy
holders and it will mean more in &C
tual money in case it is sustained, TO
them than any other case which has
ever been in the state courts in this
or any other state. The complete
answer makes a pamphlet OF several
hundred pages. Realizing the impor-
lance of it, Insurance Commissioner
Host, who is confident that the state
will win its case, and who is sustain
ed in his opinion by that of some able
insurance lawyers in this state and in
hag a
them to be printed, so that lawyers in
other parts of the country may be
fully informed upon this important
litigation.
When the answer is filed today, it is
expected that the court will immedi-
ately set a day for the hearing. The
state will be represented by Attorney
General L. NJ. Sturdevant and by Sen
ator julius l.. RoehT, who is the coun-
sci of l.. A. BrunckhoTst, the policy
holder of the Equitable who caused
the original action to be brought. The
insurance company will be represent
ed by IL. w. ChynOweth of this city
and Alexander and Colby, the New
York attorneys of the company.
/ 1t is Impossible to give the reply OF
the insurance commissioner in full
. but the following is an abstract OF 1t:
The answer alleges that the insur'
ance contracts OF the company issued
to wisconsin citizens now in force
amount to S14,0l4,692 on the 31st day
of December, 1902, the annual prem
iums being paid thereon amounting to
the sum of $42S,100.
That more than "a per cent. of the
insurance contracts and policies afOre'
+, said now in force issued to and held by
7 Wisconsin citizens and pOlicyhOlders
by the plaintiff company are upon what
! is known as the ~, Is and 20 year de-
ferred dividend plan, by which no divi-
dends are paid or appOrtioned to, nor
is any surplus divided between or
among such policies and insurance
contracts until the end of the deferred
dividend period, and not then if a for
fixture is imposed upon death or the
failure to pay premiums.
Further the answer alleges that the
charter of the company, as filed with
the insurance department of WiscOn-
sin, provides that the business OF the
company shall be done upon the NUT
ual plan, which means that the business
of life insurance shall be conducted by
the plaintiff for the members thereof
at cost. That the universal practice
and custom of life insurance cOmpan-
les doing business on the mutual plan
is TO determine at short periods, not
exceeding five years, the factors which
go to make up the cost of insurance.
That is TO say, the expenses, losses, LA
bilities, interest earnings and profits
are all calculated and a balance is
struck and the Over-payments and prof