Oklahoma § 36-1217 - Prohibitions and regulations relating to insurers, agents

§ 36-1217. Prohibitions and regulations relating to insurers, agents

of insurers, representatives of insurers and brokers - Group

insurance and group annuity contracts exempt.

In accordance with the purpose expressed in Section 1 of this

act, insurers, agents of insurers, representatives of insurers and

brokers shall be subject to the following prohibitions and

regulations:

1. No insurer, agent of an insurer or representative of an

insurer shall deliver within this state, or issue for delivery

within this state, any policy of life insurance or annuity contract

which uses as its name or title a phrase which does not include the

words, "Life Insurance" or "Annuity Contract" unless such phrase is

accompanied by other language elsewhere in the policy or contract

which indicates that it is a life insurance policy or annuity

contract;

2. The use of the terms "Investment," "Investment Plan,"

"Expansion Plan," "Profit," "Profit-sharing" and similar terms in

connection with a policy of life insurance or an annuity contract,

in a context or under such circumstances or conditions as to have

the capacity or tendency to mislead a purchaser or prospective

purchaser of such policy or contract to believe that he will

receive, or that it is possible that he will receive, something

other than a life insurance policy or annuity contract or some

benefit not provided in the policy or contract or some benefit not

available to other persons of the same class and equal expectation

of life, is unlawful and is prohibited;

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 36. Insurance

3.

No insurer, agent or broker shall within this state:

a. make any statement or reference relating to the

growth of the life insurance industry in connection with any

solicitation of an application for life insurance or annuity

contract in a context which could reasonably be understood to

interest a prospect in the purchase of shares of stock in an insurer

rather than in the purchase of a life insurance policy or annuity

contract,

b. make any statement which reasonably gives rise to

the inference that an insured or a prospective insured, by virtue of

purchasing a policy of life insurance or an annuity contract, will

enjoy a status common to a stockholder or will acquire a stock

ownership interest in the insurer; provided, however, that nothing

in this paragraph is intended to prohibit the practice of pointing

out those aspects in which the status of a policyholder in a mutual

life insurer is similar to that of a stockholder in a stock life

insurer,

c. make any reference to or statement concerning an

insurer's "Investment Department," "Insured Investment Department"

or similar terminology, in such a manner as to imply that the policy

was sold or issued by the investment department of the life insurer,

d. make any statement or reference which would

reasonably tend to imply that, by purchasing a policy, the purchaser

or prospective purchaser will become a member of a limited group of

persons who may receive special advantages or favored treatment in

the payment of dividends, unless such benefits are specifically

provided in the insurance contract. This paragraph shall not apply

to policies under which insured persons of one class of risk may

receive dividends at a higher rate than persons of another class of

risk,

e. state or imply that a particular kind of policy

is available for only a limited time or that only a limited number

of a particular kind of policy will be offered for sale or that only

a limited number of persons, or a limited class of persons, will be

eligible to buy a particular kind of policy, unless such limitation

is specifically provided in the insurance contract,

f. state or imply that policyholders who are said to

act as "centers of influence" or as an advisory board for an insurer

will share, because of so acting, in the insurer's surplus earnings

in some manner not available to other policyholders who are

otherwise in the same class,

g. describe or refer to premium payments in language

which states that the payment is a "deposit" unless:

(1) the payment sets up a debtor-creditor

relationship between the life insurance company and the policyholder

and a showing is made as to when and how the deposit may be

withdrawn,

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 36. Insurance

(2) the term is used in conjunction with the

word "premium" in such a manner as to indicate clearly the true

character of the payment, or

(3) the term is used in connection with pension

trust or deposit administration plans,

h. use the words "dividends," "cash dividends,"

"surplus" or similar phrases in such a manner as to state or imply

that the payment of dividends is guaranteed or certain to occur,

i. state or imply that a purchaser of a policy will

share in a stated percentage or portion of the earnings of the

insurer. Nothing in this paragraph is intended to prohibit a

representation that a holder of a participating life insurance

policy or annuity contract will participate in the share of the

divisible surplus, if any, apportioned to the policy or contract by

the insurer,

j. make any statement or implication that dividends

under a participating policy will be sufficient at any time to

assure the receipt of benefits, such as a paid-up policy, without

the further payment of premiums, unless the statement is accompanied

by an adequate explanation as to what benefits or coverage would be

provided at such time and the conditions under which this would

occur,

k. state that the insured is guaranteed certain

benefits if the policy is allowed to lapse without making an

adequate explanation of the nonforfeiture benefits,

l. describe a life insurance policy or annuity

contract or premium payments therefor in terms of "units of

participation" unless accompanied by other language clearly

indicating the reference to a life insurance policy or annuity

contract or to premium payments, as the case may be,

m. include in sales kits and prepared sales

presentations proposed answers to a prospect's questions as to

whether life insurance policies or annuity contracts are being sold,

which are designed to avoid a clear and unequivocal statement that

life insurance or annuities are the subject matter of the

solicitation,

n. display in any manner to a prospective

policyholder any material which includes illustrations, using dollar

amounts, in connection with the proposed sale of a life insurance or

annuity contract unless the printed material clearly identifies that

the subject, to which the dollar amounts pertain, has an economic

relationship to guaranteed values and dividends of the policy,

o. make any general statement that an insurer makes

a profit as a result of policy lapses or surrenders,

p. make comparisons to the past experience of other

life insurers as a means of projecting possible experience of the

soliciting insurer when those comparisons are designed to enhance

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 36. Insurance

the characteristics of the policy being sold by confining the

comparisons to insurers having favorable experience with that type

of policy without a fair disclosure of other insurers which have had

unfavorable experience with such type of policy,

q. state that a policy contains certain features

which are not found in other life insurance policies or annuity

contracts, unless that be true,

r. represent an option to purchase insurance in the

future in such a manner that the policyholder might reasonably infer

that he is purchasing term insurance or some other form of life

insurance that would result in a payment to the beneficiary in the

event of the death of the policyholder, or

s. make any reference to a policy of life insurance

or an annuity contract in such a manner as to misrepresent the true

nature of the policy contract;

4. No insurer, agent for an insurer or representative for an

insurer shall, as a competitive or "twisting" device, inform any

policyholder or prospective policyholder that any other insurer is

required to change a policy form or related material to comply with

the provisions of this act; and

5. This section shall not apply to group insurance policies

nor to group annuity contracts.

Laws 1972, c. 223, § 4, operative Jan. 15, 1974.