(A) Except as otherwise provided by law, every domestic mutual insurer must be organized, governed, and operated as a domestic business corporation under and in accordance with the South Carolina Business Corporation Act of 1988, (the "Business Corporation Act"). Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the provisions of the Business Corporation Act concerning the rights and duties of a stock corporation and its shareholders in respect of one another shall apply to a domestic mutual insurer and its members as if the insurer were a stock corporation and its members were shareholders therein.

(B) Notwithstanding subsection (A), as to any domestic mutual insurer existing on the effective date of this subsection and organized prior to that date under any South Carolina statute other than the Business Corporation Act, such domestic mutual insurer shall continue to be organized under such statute, and the Business Corporation Act applies to the governance and operation of that domestic mutual insurer only to the extent the Business Corporation Act does not conflict with the statute under which that domestic mutual insurer was organized or with any other insurance law of this State.

Terms Used In South Carolina Code 38-19-30

  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • insurance: includes annuities. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Insurer: includes a corporation, fraternal organization, burial association, other association, partnership, society, order, individual, or aggregation of individuals engaging or proposing or attempting to engage as principals in any kind of insurance or surety business, including the exchanging of reciprocal or interinsurance contracts between individuals, partnerships, and corporations. See South Carolina Code 38-1-20
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.

(C) A corporation organized under Chapter 13 or Chapter 14 of Title 37 of the South Carolina Code of Laws (1962), or any predecessor statutes, and subsequently licensed as a domestic mutual insurer under the laws of this State, as of the date of the licensure and for all purposes, must be deemed to have been reconstituted as a domestic mutual insurer under the insurance laws of this State as then in effect and rechartered as a domestic business corporation under the business corporation law then in effect.