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shall provide for such authorization; and in case the laws of such State, country, province, or Territory do not provide for any formal authorization to do business on the part of any such association, then such association shall be shown to be conducting its business in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter; for which purpose the said superintendent may personally, or by some person to be designated by him, examine into the condition, affairs, character, and business methods, accounts, books, and investments of such association at its home office, which examination shall be at the expense of such association and shall be made within thirty days after demand therefor, and the expense of such examination shall be limited to fifty dollars. Any association doing business under this subchapter shall be permitted to do business upon filing annually with the superintendent of insurance the certificate of authority of the insurance department of the State, Province, or Territory in which it is incorporated or organized: Provided, however, That in case of failure to file said certificate by any such association, or in case the superintendent of insurance shall deem it necessary, he shall have power, either personally or by some person designated by him, to examine into the condition, affairs, character, business methods, accounts, books, and investments of such association, at its home office, which examination shall be at the expense of the association. The amount of such expense shall not exceed one hundred dollars for associations which have no reserve or emergency fund and two hundred dollars for associations with a reserve or emergency fund.

Sec. 752. ANNUAL REPORTS.-Every such association doing business in said District shall, on or before the first day of March of each year, make and file with the said superintendent a report of its affairs and operations during the year ending on the thirty-first day of December immediately preceding, which annual report shall be in lieu of all other reports required by any other law. Such report shall be upon blank forms to be provided by the said superintendent, or may be printed in pamphlet form, and shall be verified under oath by the duly authorized officers of such association, and shall be published, or the substance thereof, in the annual report of the said superintendent under a separate part entitled "Fraternal Beneficial Associations," and shall contain answers to the following questions:

First. Number of certificates issued during the year or members admitted.

Second. Amount of indemnity effected thereby.

Third. Number of losses or benefit liabilities incurred.

Fourth. Number of losses or benefit liabilities paid.

Fifth. The amount received from each assessment for the year. Sixth. Total amount paid members, beneficiaries, legal representatives, or heirs.

Seventh. Number and kind of claims for which assessments have been made.

Eighth. Number and kind of claims compromised or resisted, and brief statement of reasons.

Ninth. Does the association charge annual or other periodical dues or admission fees?

Tenth. If so, how much on each one thousand dollars, annually or per capita, as the case may be?

Eleventh. Total amount received, from what source, and the disposition thereof.

Twelfth. Total amount of salaries paid to officers.

Thirteenth. Does the association guarantee in its certificates fixed amounts to be paid regardless of amount realized from assessments, dues, admission fees, and donations?

Fourteenth. If so, state amount guaranteed and the security of such guaranty.

Fifteenth. Has the association a reserve or emergency fund?

Sixteenth. If so, how is it created, and for what purpose, the amount thereof, and how invested?

Seventeenth. Has the association more than one class?

Eighteenth. If so, how many; and the amount of indemnity in each

case.

Nineteenth. Number of members in each class.

Twentieth. If voluntary, so state; and give date of organization. Twenty-first. If organized under the laws of said District, under what law and at what time, giving chapter and year, and date of passage of the act.

Twenty-second. If organized under the laws of any State, country, province, or Territory, state such fact and the date of organization, giving chapter and year, and date of passage of the act.

Twenty-third. Number of certificates of beneficial membership lapsed during the year.

Twenty-fourth. Number in force at beginning and end of year; if more than one class, number in each class.

Twenty-fifth. Names and addresses of its president, secretary, and treasurer, or corresponding officers.

Sec. 753. NONRESIDENT ASSOCIATIONS TO NAME AN ATTORNEY IN THE DISTRICT. Each such association now doing or hereafter admitted to do business within said District, and not having its principal office within said District, and not being organized under the laws of the United States relating to said District, shall appoint, in writing, the said superintendent and his successors in office to be its true and lawful attorney, upon whom all lawful process in any action or proceeding against it may be served, and in such writing shall agree that any lawful process against it which is served on said attorney shall be of the same legal force and validity as if served upon the association, and that the authority shall continue in force so long as any liability remains outstanding in said District. Copies of said certificate certified by said superintendent shall be deemed sufficient evidence thereof, and shall be admitted in evidence with the same force and effect as the original thereof might be admitted. Service upon such attorney shall be deemed sufficient service upon such association. When legal process against such association is served upon said superintendent he shall immediately notify the association of such service by letter, prepaid and directed to its secretary or corresponding officer, and shall, within two days after such service, forward in the same manner a copy of the process served on him to such officer. The plaintiff in such process so served shall pay to the said superintendent at the time of such service a fee of three dollars, which shall be recovered by him as a part of the taxable costs if he prevails in his suit. The said superintendent shall keep a record of all processes served upon him, which record shall show the day and hour when such service was made.

Sec. 754. PERMIT FROM SUPERINTENDENT OF INSURANCE.-The said superintendent shall, upon the application of any association having

the right to do business within said District, as provided by this subchapter, issue to such association a permit in writing authorizing such association to do business within said District, for which certificate and all proceedings in connection therewith such association shall pay the said superintendent the fee of five dollars.

Sec. 755. CERTIFICATE OF ORGANIZATION; TRUSTEES.-Any nine or more persons, at least one-third of whom shall be residents of the District of Columbia, being desirous of forming a fraternal beneficial association for the purposes set forth in section seven hundred and forty-nine of this subchapter, may associate themselves together and effect such organization as hereinafter prescribed, and not otherwise. Such persons shall make, sign, and acknowledge before any officer authorized to take the acknowledgment of deeds in this District and file in the office of the recorder of deeds of said District a certificate or declaration in writing, to be recorded in a book kept for that purpose and open to public inspection, in which shall be stated the name or title by which said association shall be known to law; the mode and manner in which the corporate powers granted by this subchapter are to be exercised; the name or official title of the officers, trustees, representatives, or other persons by whatever name or title designated, who are to have and exercise the general control and management of its affairs; the place of doing business defined; the limit as to age of applicants for beneficial membership, which shall not exceed fifty-five years, and that medical examinations are required of applicants for life benefits, together with the sworn statement by three of said corporators that at least one hundred persons eligible under the proposed laws of such association to membership therein have in good faith made application in writing for membership. The recorder of deeds, upon the filing of said declaration, shall deliver to such association a certified copy of the papers so filed and recorded in his office, together with a certificate to such association, stating that the provisions of this subchapter relative to incorporation have been complied with and that said association becomes thereby authorized to carry on the work of a fraternal beneficial association. Upon filing the certificate or declaration as aforesaid, the persons who shall have signed and acknowledged the same, and their successors and associates, shall, by the provisions of this subchapter, be a body politic and corporate by the name and style stated in the certificate, and by that name and style shall have perpetual succession, and by said name may sue and be sued, and may have and use a common seal, and the same may alter and change at pleasure, and may make and alter, at times or from time to time, such laws, not inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States or the laws in force in said District, as they may deem necessary for the government of said association. And they and their successors, by their corporate name, shall in law be capable of creating, maintaining, and disbursing a reserve or emergency fund in accordance with its laws and the provisions of this subchapter, and of taking, receiving, purchasing, and holding real and personal estate necessary for the purpose of such association, and may let, place out at interest, or sell and convey the same as may seem most beneficial for said association. The association shall elect from its members trustees, directors, or managers, by whatever title known in its laws, at such time and place and in such manner as may be specified in its laws, who shall have the control and management of the affairs and funds of said association, a majority of whom

shall be a quorum for the transaction of business; and whenever any vacancy shall happen among such trustees, directors, or managers, by death, resignation, or otherwise, such vacancy shall be filled in such manner as shall be provided by the laws of said association.

Sec. 756. REINCORPORATION.-The officers, trustees, directors, or governing body of any existing fraternal beneficial association may, by conforming to the requirements of the several provisions of this subchapter, reincorporate themselves or continue their existing corporate powers under this subchapter, or change their name, stating in their certificate the original name of such corporation as well as their new name assumed, and all the property and effects of such existing corporation shall vest in and belong to the corporation so reincorporated or continued.

Sec. 757. SUBORDINATE BODIES.-Any subordinate body of any fraternal beneficial association incorporated under the provisions of this subchapter, or of such association now doing business or which may hereafter be admitted to do business in this District under this subchapter, where the laws of the governing body of said association do not prohibit the incorporation of their subordinate bodies, may become a body corporate in the manner following: At some regular meeting of such subordinate body a resolution expressing the desire of such subordinate body to be incorporated, and directing its officers to perfect such incorporation, shall be submitted to a vote of the members present, and if two-thirds of the members present vote therefor the president and secretary of such subordinate body, or the officers holding relative offices therein, shall prepare articles of association, under their hands and the seal of such subordinate body, setting forth, first, the number of members of such subordinate body then in good standing; second, the name by which said subordinate body is known; third, the date of its organization and the period for which it is to be incorporated, not exceeding thirty years. A copy of such articles of association shall be filed with the recorder of deeds, and shall by him be recorded, together with the affidavit hereafter named, in a book to be kept for that purpose. On the execution of said articles of association and before the filing thereof with the recorder the secretary of such subordinate body shall annex thereto his affidavit, stating that he is a member in good standing in such subordinate body and occupies the position of secretary, or the office corresponding therewith, and that the resolution, a copy of which shall be set forth at length, was regularly passed at a regular meeting of said subordinate body and received the vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting, and that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, the statements made in the articles of association are true, and that such subordinate body is organized and acting under the laws of its respective association, giving the name by which such association is known. When the foregoing requirements are complied with such subordinate body shall be a body corporate by the name expressed in such articles, and by that name shall be a person in law, capable of suing and being sued in the courts, and taking and holding property of every kind the same as natural persons, and a copy of said articles of association, duly certified to by the recorder of deeds, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts. and places of the existence and the due incorporation of such subordinate body.

Sec. 758. CONTRACT INVALID IF BENEFICIARY TO PAY ASSESSMENTS.No contract with any such association shall be valid when there is a contract, agreement, or understanding between the member and the beneficiary prior to or at the time of becoming a member of the association that the beneficiary, or any person for him, shall pay such member's assessments and dues, or either of them.

Sec. 759. BENEFITS EXEMPT FROM ATTACHMENT.-The money or other benefit, charity, relief, or aid to be paid, provided, or rendered by any association authorized to do business under this subchapter shall not be liable to attachment, garnishment, or other process, and shall not be seized, taken, appropriated, or applied by any legal or equitable process, or by operation of law to pay any debt or liability of a certificate holder or of any beneficiary named in a certificate, or any person who may have any right thereunder.

Sec. 760. MEETINGS.-Any such association organized under the laws of said District may provide for the meetings of its legislative or governing body in any State, country, province, or Territory wherein such association shall have subordinate bodies, and all business transacted at such meetings shall be valid in all respects as if such meetings were held within said District; and where the laws of any such association provide for the election of its officers by votes to be cast in its subordinate bodies, the votes so cast in its subordinate bodies in any State, country, province or Territory shall be valid as if cast within said District.

Sec. 761. FRAUDULENT REPRESENTATIONS.-Any person, officer, member, or examining physician who shall knowingly or willfully make any false or fraudulent statement or representation in or with reference to any application for membership or for restoration to membership or for the purpose of obtaining any money or benefit in any association transacting business under this subchapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the United States jail in said District for not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court; and any person who shall willfully make a false statement of any material fact or thing in a sworn statement as to the death or disability of a certificate holder in any such association for the purpose of procuring payment of a benefit named in the certificate of such holder, and any person who shall willfully make any false statement in any verified report or declaration under oath required or authorized by this subchapter, shall be guilty of perjury.

Sec. 762. NEGLECT TO REPORT.-Any such association refusing or neglecting to make the report as provided in this subchapter shall be excluded from doing business within said District. Said superintendent of insurance must, within sixty days after failure to make such report, or in case any such association shall exceed its powers, or shall conduct its business fraudulently, or shall fail to comply with any of the provisions of this subchapter, give notice in writing to the attorney for said District, who shall immediately commence an action against such association to enjoin the same from carrying on any business. An injunction against any such association may be granted on application by the Commissioners of said District at the request of the said

4360--02-11

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