Massachusetts § 94 - Mutual life companies; members, voting rights; selection and qualifications of directors

§ 94. Mutual life companies; members, voting rights; selection and qualifications of directors

Section 94. Except as provided in this section and in sections thirty-six, one hundred and thirty-two D and one hundred and thirty-seven, every person insured under a policy of life or endowment insurance issued by a domestic mutual life company shall be a member thereof and entitled to one vote, and, except in the case of a policy of life or endowment insurance which is a contract on a variable basis, one vote additional for each five thousand dollars of insurance in excess of the first five thousand dollars, every person holding an annuity or pure endowment contract issued by any such company shall be a member thereof and entitled to one vote and, except in the case of an annuity contract which is a contract on a variable basis, one vote additional for each one hundred and fifty dollars of annual annuity income in excess of the first one hundred and fifty dollars, and, except as provided in section one hundred and ten, every person insured under any policy of insurance issued by any such company under clause Six of section forty-seven shall be a member thereof and entitled to one vote. Holders of such policies or contracts shall be notified of the annual meetings of the company by written notice, or by an imprint in the form prescribed by section seventy-six upon the filing back of its policies or contracts, or, in the case of policies upon which premiums are payable monthly or oftener, on some other prominent place on each policy, and also upon premium receipts or certificates of renewal.

Members and shareholders may vote by proxies dated and executed within three months and returned and recorded on the books of the company seven days or more before the meeting at which they are to be used; but no member or shareholder of such a company shall, in person or by proxy, cast more than twenty votes.

After the first election, the directors shall be chosen by and from the policyholders; provided, that in case of a company having outstanding a guaranty capital, one third of the directors may be chosen by and from the stockholders thereof. No person shall be qualified to serve as a director after he ceases to be such a policyholder or stockholder, as the case may be.

The provisions of section sixty shall apply to the officers of every such company, and the provisions of the third paragraph of section seventy-seven shall apply to every such company.