Ancient Order of United Workmen v. Hobbs

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Dawson, J.:

This is an original proceeding in which plaintiff, a fraternal benefit society, seeks to compel the commissioner of insurance to approve a form of insurance certificate which it proposes to issue to members of plaintiff’s fraternal society.

The defendant withholds his approval of the proposed certificate because it purports to bind the plaintiff irrevocably to a fixed schedule of assessments for such insurance. This form of contract is known in insurance parlance as the level-premium plan. The statute under which fraternal insurance societies…