PART VII. 
MISCELLANEOUS



 



§432:2-701  Service of process.  (a) 
Every society authorized to do business in this State shall appoint in writing
the commissioner and each successor in office to be its true and lawful
attorney upon whom all lawful process in any action or proceeding against it
shall be served, and shall agree in such writing 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 society, and that the authority shall
continue in force so long as any liability remains outstanding in this State. 
Copies of such appointment, certified by the commissioner, shall be deemed
sufficient evidence thereof and shall be admitted in evidence with the force
and effect as the original thereof might be admitted.



(b)  Service shall only be made upon the
commissioner, [or] if absent, upon the person in charge of the commissioner's
office.  It shall be made in duplicate and shall constitute sufficient service
upon the society.  When legal process against a society is served upon the
commissioner, the commissioner shall forthwith forward one of the duplicate
copies by registered mail, prepaid, directed to the secretary or corresponding
officer.  No such service shall require a society to file its answer, pleading
or defense in less than thirty days from the date of mailing the copy of the
service to a society.  Legal process shall not be served upon a society except
in the manner herein provided.  At the time of serving any process upon the
commissioner, the plaintiff or complainant in the action shall pay to the
commissioner a fee of $7.50. [L 1987, c 347, pt of §2]