Massachusetts General Laws ch. 175 sec. 22 – Unauthorized policy provisions; effect
Section 22. No company and no officer or agent thereof shall make, issue or deliver any policy of insurance or any annuity or pure endowment contract containing any condition, stipulation or agreement depriving the courts of the commonwealth of jurisdiction of actions against it; limiting the time for commencing actions against it to a period of less than two years from the time when the cause of action accrues; making any person appointed and licensed as its agent the agent of the applicant or insured or holder of the policy or contract for any purpose; providing that no person shall be deemed an agent of the company unless authorized by the company in writing, or providing that any such policy or contract made in the commonwealth on lives, property or interests therein shall be governed by the laws of any state or country other than this commonwealth. Any such condition, stipulation or agreement shall be void.
Terms Used In Massachusetts General Laws ch. 175 sec. 22
- Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Interests: includes any form of membership in a domestic or foreign nonprofit corporation. See Massachusetts General Laws ch. 156D sec. 11.01
- 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.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
No policy of insurance issued by a company under the authority of section twenty-four, one hundred and eight and one hundred and ten, and no contract or agreement entered into by the trustee of any trust fund authorized by chapter one hundred and fifty-one D, shall contain a provision excluding liability on the part of the insurance company or health and welfare fund for hospital, medical or surgical expenses if the insured is hospitalized or receives medical or surgical treatment in a state-operated veterans’ home. Any such provision shall be void. Expenses as used in this paragraph shall mean the charges of such veterans’ homes for the services rendered and such charges shall be deemed to have been legally incurred by persons insured under such policies notwithstanding that such person is entitled to benefits under chapter one hundred fifteen A or that no bill is, or would otherwise be, rendered by such veterans’ homes with respect to such persons. The foregoing provisions shall apply to any group or non-group policy of insurance delivered, issued or renewed, by any domestic insurer under the authority of this chapter, or by any alien or foreign insurer to the extent such policies cover persons having a residence within the commonwealth, or to any employee health plan of any company or other business entity where the company or business entity is a self-insurer of such employee health plan.