Court Opinion

ID: 9610644
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:44:31.500696+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:02.754959
License: Public Domain

WELCH, J.
(dissenting). I have no concern with the question whether plaintiff should have been granted a license or whether he should now retain his license. I am concerned, however, with the rule of law announced in the syllabus, and the rule announced in the body of the opinion.
Assuming, for the sake of argument, that such a Board would have inherent authority, or implied authority, to revoke a license for fraud in its procurement, still, I think it beyond question that the Legislature would have the authority, in creating such a Board, to deprive it of any such implied power. This, our Legislature has done by our statute. Title 36 O. S. 1941 §140 provides for the granting of licenses to insurance agents, but by subd. (c) of said section it is provided in material part as follows:
“It is provided further that the State Insurance Board shall only cancel any license issued by it after a hearing before the said State Insurance Board, on charges made in writing and after a copy of said charges have been mailed to the said agent at his last known address and giving him ten days’ notice for appearance. Charges as filed must set forth some violation of the Insurance laws of this state, or that the agent has through his said agency defrauded some policy holder or that he lacks sufficient ability to properly conduct the business of insurance or that he is incompetent or has made use of misrepresentations, twisting or other bad practices in the conduct of his insurance business, after such hearing of the charges made, the State Insurance Board shall render its opinion in writing and if it deems the charges sufficiently proven to be true, shall forthwith cancel the said license and shall notify the said agent and the said company of its findings, . . .” (Emphasis ours)
Since the statute makes such specific provision that “the State Insurance Board shall only cancel any license issued by it . . .” upon some one of the charges set out in the statute, the statutory Board can have no other or further implied power.
I regard it as an important rule that fraud, or fraudulent actions, may only be adjudicated and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, or by some board or commission that is expressly given authority to so act and adjudicate and to furnish relief from fraud. In my view such an adjudication may not be made by a board, where the power of the board is expressly restricted as in the above-quoted portion of the statute.
In Fisher v. State Insurance Board, 139 Okla. 92, 281 P. 300, this court considered this same statute to reverse or vacate an order canceling such a license. In that case this court emphasized the fact that the power of the Insurance Board to revoke a license is entirely separate from the authority to issue the license in the first place. In that decision ■ this court not only held the Board to its statutory authority as to revocation of license, but it was there held that part of the authority attempted to be conferred on the Board was invalid.
My view is sustained by the decision in State v. Loucks, 32 Wyo. 26, 228 P. 632. There the Supreme Court of Wyoming in mandamus required reinstatement of such a license for lack of valid express authority for the revocation. *632The same principle was applied in Calvin Phillips & Co. v. Fishback, 84 Wash. 124, 146 P. 181.
In Johnson v. Betts, 21 Ariz. 365, 188 P. 271, it was held as follows:
“While the Corporation Commission is a creature of the Constitution and by it vested with certain named powers over public service corporations, its supervisorial powers over insurance companies are statutory. It is well recognized that special tribunals exercising special summary powers must find their authority within the statute. They have no common-law powers nor implied powers, except such as are absolutely necessary to carry out those powers expressly granted them. In accordance with this principle, in State v. Board of Supervisors, 14 Ariz. 222, 127 P. 727, it was said, quoting from a Nevada case (State v. Central Pac. R. Co., 21 Nev. 172, 26 P. 225, 1109):
“ ‘A board of equalization is of special and limited jurisdiction, and, like all inferior tribunals, has only such powers- as are specially conferred upon it. It is essential to the validity of its action that they should be authorized by some provision of the statute; otherwise, they are null and void.’
“We held in that case that the board of equalization of Yavapai county could not grant a rehearing to a taxpayer because the power to do so had not been conferred upon the board by the statute. The position there taken is well sustained by the cases cited, and we are satisfied that the rule announced is sound and determinative of the point here made.”
For these reasons, I respectfully dissent, and I am authorized to say that ARNOLD, C.J., and O’NEAL, J., join in this dissent.