Vermont Statutes Title 8 Sec. 3381
Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 8 Sec. 3381
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: shall include any natural person, corporation, municipality, the State of Vermont or any department, agency, or subdivision of the State, and any partnership, unincorporated association, or other legal entity. See
- Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See
§ 3381. Legislative purpose and policy
The purpose of this article is to subject certain insurers to the jurisdiction of courts of this State by or on behalf of insureds or beneficiaries under insurance contracts. The Legislature declares that it is a subject of concern that many residents of this State hold policies of insurance issued or delivered in this State by insurers while not authorized to do business in this State, thus presenting to such residents the often insuperable obstacle of resorting to distant forums for the purpose of asserting legal rights under such policies. In furtherance of such State interest, the Legislature herein provides a method of substituted service of process upon such insurers and declares that in so doing it exercises its power to protect its residents and to define, for the purpose of this article, what constitutes doing business in this State, and also exercises powers and privileges available to the State by virtue of The McCarran-Ferguson Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1011-1015, which declares that the business of insurance and every person engaged therein shall be subject to the laws of the several states. (Added 1967, No. 344 (Adj. Sess.), § 1 (ch. 1, subch. 3, § 1).)