Chapter 431 — Chapter 431

ARTICLE 1 DEFINITIONS PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS §431:1-100 Short title. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Insurance Code. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]

§431:1-100.5 Purpose. The legislature hereby declares that the purpose of this chapter is to recodify, without substantive change, the insurance law in effect immediately prior to July 1, 1988. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]

§431:1-101 Compliance required. No person shall transact a business of insurance in this State without complying with the applicable provisions of this code. Any person transacting a business of insurance under chapter 432 shall be subject to this code only to the extent provided…

§431:1-102 Public interest. The business of insurance is one affected by the public interest, requiring that all persons be actuated by good faith, abstain from deception and practice honesty and equity in all insurance matters. Upon the insurer, the insured and their representat…

§431:1-103 Headings. The meaning or scope of any provision is not affected by any heading. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]

§431:1-104 Particular provisions prevail. Provisions of this code relating to a particular class of insurance or a particular type of insurer or to a particular matter prevail over provisions relating to insurance in general or insurers in general or to such matter in general. [L…

§431:1-105 Records, statements and reports. (a) All records, statements and reports required or authorized by this code shall be made in writing in the English language. (b) All statements, estimates, percentages, payments, and calculations required or authorized by this code sha…

PART II. GENERAL DEFINITIONS §431:1-201 Insurance defined. (a) Insurance is a contract whereby one undertakes to indemnify another or pay a specified amount upon determinable contingencies. (b) The following contracts are not considered to be insurance for the purposes of this co…

§431:1-202 Insurer defined. Insurer means every person engaged in the business of making contracts of insurance and includes reciprocal or interinsurance exchanges. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]

§431:1-203 Classes of insurance. For the purposes of this code, the classes of insurance are: life insurance (including industrial and group life insurance) as defined in section 431:1-204; accident and health or sickness insurance, also referred to as disability insurance (inclu…

§431:1-204 Life insurance defined. (a) Life insurance is insurance on human lives and insurance appertaining thereto or connected therewith. (b) For the purposes of this code, the transacting of life insurance includes contracting to provide additional benefits in the event of de…

§431:1-205 Accident and health or sickness insurance defined. Accident and health or sickness insurance, also referred to as disability insurance, is insurance against bodily injury, disablement, or death by accident, or accidental means, or the expense thereof; against disableme…

§431:1-206 Property insurance defined. Property insurance is insurance against loss of or damage to real or personal property of every kind and any interest therein, from any or all hazard or cause and against loss consequential upon such loss of or damage. An inclusion within ot…

§431:1-207 Marine and transportation insurance defined. Marine and transportation insurance is:

§431:1-208 Vehicle insurance defined. (a) Vehicle insurance is insurance against loss of or damage to any land vehicle or aircraft or any draft or riding animal or to property while contained therein or thereon or being loaded or unloaded therein or therefrom, and against any los…

§431:1-209 General casualty insurance defined. General casualty insurance includes vehicle insurance as defined in section 431:1-208, and accident and health or sickness insurance as defined in section 431:1-205 when issued as an incidental coverage with or supplemental to liabil…

§431:1-210 Surety insurance defined. Surety insurance includes:

§431:1-211 Ocean marine insurance defined. Ocean marine insurance (although not a class of insurance as named in section 431:1-203), whenever the term is used in this code, means insurance:

§431:1-212 Person defined. Person means any individual, company, insurer, association, organization, group, reciprocal or interinsurance exchanges, partnership, business, trust, or corporation. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]

§431:1-213 State defined. State means any state of the United States and the governments of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2; am L 1997, c 233, §2; am L 2011, …

§431:1-214 United States defined. United States, when used to signify a place, means the states of the United States and the governments of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia. [L 1987, c …

§431:1-215 Transaction of an insurance business. Transaction of an insurance business means any of the following acts in this State effected by mail or otherwise by or on behalf of an insurer. The venue of an act committed by mail is at the point where the matter transmitted by m…

§431:1-216 General business practice. General business practice means an established measure or model practiced or used at least three times in one calendar year in the general business community. [L 1987, c 349, §1]

ARTICLE 10 INSURANCE CONTRACTS GENERALLY PART I. READABILITY OF INSURANCE CONTRACTS §431:10-101 Scope; effective dates. This part shall apply to all contracts filed after June 30, 1983. No contract shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this State after June 30, 1984, unles…

§431:10-102 Definitions. As used in this part: "Contract" means any policy of life, accident and health or sickness, credit life, credit disability, homeowners, and motor vehicle insurance covering personally owned or personally leased private passenger motor vehicles prepared fo…

§431:10-103 Exemptions of certain contracts. The provisions of this part shall not apply to:

§431:10-104 General readability requirements. In addition to any other requirements of law, no contract shall be delivered or issued for delivery in this State unless:

§431:10-105 Required reading test; authorization and availability. (a) Every insurer shall use the Flesch reading ease test to determine the readability of any contract. Whenever the commissioner determines that the Flesch reading ease test is inappropriate for the purposes of de…

§431:10-106 Flesch reading ease test; procedures. (a) Whenever the Flesch reading ease test is used, its reading score shall be computed as follows: (b) For the purposes of subsection (a), the following procedures shall be used:

§431:10-107 Filing of certificate. (a) Every insurer shall file with the commissioner a certificate signed by an officer of the insurer stating that the contract meets the minimum Flesch reading ease score required in section 431:10-104(1). (b) Whenever the score is lower than th…

§431:10-108 Flesch reading ease score; lower score authorized; when. The commissioner may authorize a score lower than the minimum Flesch reading ease score required in section 431:10-104(1) when the commissioner determines that the lower score:

PART II. GENERAL RULES §431:10-201 Scope. The provisions of this part shall apply to all classes or lines of insurance except:

§431:10-202 Definitions. For purposes of this part: "Insurable interest" includes only interests as follows: "Policy" means the written instrument in which a contract of insurance and any endorsement or addendum thereto is set forth. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2; am L 1988, c 49, §1;…

§431:10-203 Power to contract. (a) Any person of competent legal capacity may contract for insurance. (b) A minor of the age of fifteen years or more, as determined by the nearest birthday, shall be deemed to be competent to: except that such minor, not otherwise emancipated, sha…

§431:10-204 Insurable interest required; personal insurances. (a) Any individual of competent legal capacity may procure or effect an insurance contract upon the individual's own life or body for the benefit of any person. (b) No person shall procure or cause to be procured any i…

§431:10-205 Interest of the insured. When the name of a person intended to be insured is specified in the policy, the insurance can be applied only to the person's own proper interest. This section shall not apply to life insurance or accident and health or sickness insurance. [L…

§431:10-206 Application for insurance: consent of insured required. No life insurance or accident and health or sickness insurance contract upon an individual shall be made or effectuated unless at the time of the making of the contract the individual insured, being of competent …

§431:10-207 Alteration of application. (a) Any written application for insurance which is attached to and made a part of the insurance contract shall be altered solely by the applicant or with the applicant's written consent, except that insertions may be made by the insurer for …

§431:10-208 Limitations on use of application as evidence. (a) No application for the issuance of any life insurance contract shall be admissible in evidence in any action relative to such contract, unless a true copy of the application was attached to or made a part of the polic…

§431:10-209 Warranties, misrepresentations in applications. All statements or descriptions in any application for an insurance policy or in negotiations therefor, by or on behalf of the insured, shall be deemed to be representations and not warranties. A misrepresentation shall n…

§431:10-210 Standard form fire insurance policy. (a) The standard form fire insurance policy as authorized and in effect in the State of New York on December 31, 1943, or its approved equivalent, is established as the standard form fire insurance policy for this State, and no fir…

§431:10-211 Content of policies in general. (a) A policy shall specify: (b) If under the contract the exact amount of premiums is determinable only at termination of the contract or at periodic intervals of the contract, a statement of the basis and rates upon which the final pre…

§431:10-212 Contract limitations for handicapped children and children with intellectual disabilities. Every individual life insurance policy, every group life insurance policy, and every hospital or medical expense insurance policy, delivered or issued for delivery in this State…

§431:10-213 REPEALED. L 1989, c 195, §43.

§431:10-214 Right to return policy. (a) There shall be printed on or attached to every individual life insurance policy and every individual accident and health or sickness insurance policy issued for delivery in this State a notice in ten-point bold type stating in substance tha…

§431:10-215 Readjustment of premiums; dividends. (a) Any contract of group disability insurance or group life insurance may provide for the readjustment of the rate of premium based on experience at the end of the first year or of any subsequent year of insurance, and such readju…

§431:10-216 Additional contents. A policy may contain additional provisions, which are not inconsistent with this part, and which are:

§431:10-217 Charter, bylaw provisions. No policy shall contain any provision purporting to make any portion of the charter, bylaws or other constituent document of the insurer a part of the contract unless that portion is set forth in full in the policy. Any policy provision in v…

§431:10-218 Stated premium must include all charges. (a) The premium stated in the policy shall be inclusive of all fees, charges, premiums, or other consideration charged for the insurance or for its procurement. This subsection shall not apply to surety or group insurance contr…

§431:10-219 Multi-peril policies, premiums stated separately. Each insurer issuing a multi-peril policy shall provide the policyholder with a written statement separately stating the premiums and the amounts of insurance or limits of liability for fire and allied lines, inland ma…