GA Code § 33-14-6 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 33 - Insurance|Chapter 14 - Domestic Stock and Mutual Insurers|Article 1 - General Provisions|§ 33-14-6. Grant of Corporate Powers and Privileges; Issuance of Certificate of Incorporation; Recordation of Documents; Appointment of Attorney for Acceptance of Service of Process

  All corporate powers and privileges to insurance companies shall be issued and granted by the Secretary of State upon the terms, liabilities, and restrictions of and subject to this title and the laws and Constitution of this state. If from any cause the Secretary of State should be disqualified from issuing and granting said powers, the duties required by this title to be performed by the Secretary of State shall be performed by the Commissioner of Insurance.   When the certificate of the judge of the probate court as to the fact of publication of the application for charter and the certificate of the Commissioner as to his or her approval of the application for charter shall have been received in the office of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State shall issue to the corporation under the seal of the state a certificate of incorporation. The corporation shall not transact business as an insurer until it has applied for and received from the Commissioner a certificate of authority as provided by this title.   The Secretary of State shall record the application for charter, the certificate of approval of the Commissioner, the certificate of the judge of the probate court as to publication, and the certificate of incorporation.   No corporation shall directly or indirectly take risks or transact any business of insurance in this state by any agent or agents in this state until it shall have appointed an attorney in this state on whom process of law can be served and filed in the office of the Commissioner a written instrument duly signed and sealed certifying such appointment which shall continue until another attorney shall be substituted. Any process issued by any court of record in this state and served upon the attorney by the proper officer of the county in which the attorney may reside or may be found shall be deemed a sufficient service of process upon the company, but service of process upon the company may also be made in any other manner provided by law. Any violation of this subsection shall subject the party violating this subsection to a penalty of not less than $100.00 nor more than $500.00.    (Ga. L. 1893, p. 73, § 3; Civil Code 1895, § 2009; Civil Code 1910, § 2390; Code 1933, § 56-203; Code 1933, § 56-1506, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 33; Ga. L. 1986, p. 855, § 13; Ga. L. 1988, p. 13, § 33; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1307, § 2.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Secretary of State not required to determine if Commissioner has acted in time.    - Former Code 1933, §§ 56-1505(3) and 56-1506(2) and (3) (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-5(c)) and subsections (b) and (c) of former Code 1933, § 56-1506 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-6) do not place any burden or duty on the Secretary of State to ascertain that the approval of the Commissioner was given within the 45-day limit; the 45-day limit specified in former Code 1933, § 56-1505 was inserted to protect the applicant from too long an investigation by the Commissioner; a law intended to benefit an applicant should not be interpreted to the applicant's detriment. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 72-76.   Company surviving merger of domestic companies must apply for charter.   - Where a domestic insurance company merges with another domestic insurance company, the resulting company is a new and distinct corporation, and an application for a new charter has to be filed with the Secretary of State in order to secure a new certificate of incorporation. 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 19.   Section applies when one or both merging companies are domestic.    - Former Code 1933, § 56-1534 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-14-43), insofar as it required compliance with former Code 1933, §§ 56-1505 and 56-1506 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 33-14-5 and33-14-6), can apply only when there was a merger of two domestic insurance companies or a merger of a domestic insurance company and a foreign insurance company, with the survivor being a Georgia company. 1963-65 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 19.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 43 Am. Jur. 2d, Insurance, § 62.   C.J.S.   - 44 C.J.S., Insurance, §§ 162, 500, 611.