44-201 Insurance; lines; enumerated. - Nebraska Statutes

44-201. Insurance; lines; enumerated.An insurance corporation may be formed for the following purposes or may insure the following lines:(1) LIFE INSURANCE. Insurance upon lives of persons, including endowments and annuities, and every insurance pertaining thereto and disability benefits, except that life insurance shall not include variable life insurance specified in subdivision (2) of this section and variable annuities specified in subdivision (3) of this section;(2) VARIABLE LIFE INSURANCE. Insurance on the lives of individuals, the amount or duration of which varies according to the investment experience of any separate account or accounts established and maintained by the insurer as to such insurance;(3) VARIABLE ANNUITIES. Insurance policies issued on an individual or group basis by which an insurer promises to pay a variable sum of money either in a lump sum or periodically for life or for some other specified period;(4) SICKNESS AND ACCIDENT INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or expense resulting from the sickness of the insured, from bodily injury or death of the insured by accident, or both, and every insurance pertaining thereto;(5) PROPERTY INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage, including consequential loss or damage, to real or personal property of every kind and any interest in such property from any and all hazards or causes, except that property insurance shall not include title insurance specified in subdivision (15) of this section and marine insurance specified in subdivision (18) of this section;(6) CREDIT PROPERTY INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage to personal property used as collateral for securing a loan or to personal property purchased pursuant to a credit transaction, but only insofar as it applies to property sold to or pledged by individual consumers for personal use;(7) GLASS INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage to glass, including its lettering, ornamentation, and fittings;(8) BURGLARY AND THEFT INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage by burglary, theft, larceny, robbery, forgery, fraud, vandalism, malicious mischief, confiscation or wrongful conversion, disposal, or concealment or from any attempt at any of the foregoing;(9) BOILER AND MACHINERY INSURANCE. Insurance against any liability and loss or damage to life, person, property, or interest resulting from accidents to or explosions of boilers, pipes, pressure containers, machinery, or apparatus;(10) LIABILITY INSURANCE. Insurance against legal liability for the death, injury, or disability of any person, for injury or damage to any person, or for damage to property, and the providing of medical, hospital, surgical, or disability benefits to injured persons and funeral and death benefits to dependents, beneficiaries, or personal representatives of persons killed, irrespective of legal liability of the insured, when issued as an incidental coverage with or supplemental to liability insurance, except that liability insurance shall not include workers' compensation and employers liability insurance specified in subdivision (11) of this section;(11) WORKERS' COMPENSATION AND EMPLOYERS LIABILITY INSURANCE. Insurance against the legal liability of any employer for the death or disablement of or injury to an employee whether imposed by common law or statute or assumed by contract, except that workers' compensation and employers liability insurance shall not include liability insurance specified in subdivision (10) of this section;(12) VEHICLE INSURANCE. Insurance against any loss or damage to any land vehicle, other than railroad rolling stock, or any draft animal, from any hazard or cause, and against any loss, liability, or expense resulting from or incidental to ownership, maintenance, or use of any such vehicle or animal, together with insurance against accidental injury to or death of any person, irrespective of legal liability of the insured, if such insurance is issued as an incidental part of insurance on the vehicle or draft animal;(13) FIDELITY INSURANCE. Insurance guaranteeing the fidelity of persons holding positions of public or private trust;(14) SURETY INSURANCE. Insurance guaranteeing the performance of contracts other than insurance policies or guaranteeing and executing all bonds, undertakings, and contracts of suretyship, except that surety insurance shall not include title insurance specified in subdivision (15) of this section and financial guaranty insurance specified in subdivision (19) of this section;(15) TITLE INSURANCE. Insurance guaranteeing or indemnifying owners of real property or others interested therein against loss or damage suffered by reason of (a) liens, encumbrances upon, defects in, or the unmarketability of title to such real property, or adverse claim to title in real property with reasonable examination of title guaranteeing, warranting, or otherwise insuring by a title insurer the correctness of searches relating to the title to real property and (b) defects in the authorization, execution, or delivery of an encumbrance upon such real property, or any share, participation, or other interest in such encumbrance, guaranteeing, warranting, or otherwise insuring by a title insurer the validity and enforceability of evidences of indebtedness secured by an encumbrance upon or interest in such real property;(16) CREDIT INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage from the failure of persons indebted to or to become indebted to the insured to meet existing or contemplated liabilities, including agreements to purchase uncollectible debts, except that credit insurance shall not include mortgage guaranty insurance specified in subdivision (17) of this section and financial guaranty insurance specified in subdivision (19) of this section;(17) MORTGAGE GUARANTY INSURANCE. Insurance against financial loss by lenders by reason of nonpayment of principal, interest, or other sums agreed to be paid under the terms of any note or bond or other evidence of indebtedness secured by a mortgage, deed of trust, or other instrument constituting a lien or charge on real estate;(18) MARINE INSURANCE. Insurance against loss or damage, including consequential loss or damage, to vessels, craft, aircraft, automobiles, and vehicles of every kind as well as goods, freights, cargoes, merchandise, effects, disbursements, profits, money, bullion, precious stones, securities, choses in action, evidences of debt, valuable papers, bottomry, and respondentia interests, and all kinds of property and interests therein in respect to, pertaining to, or in connection with any or all risks or perils of navigation, transit, or transportation, including war risks, on or under any seas, or waters, on land or in the air, or while being assembled, packed, crated, baled, compressed, or similarly prepared for shipment or while awaiting the same, or during any delays, storage, transshipment, or reshipment incidental thereto; including marine builders' risks and war risks; and against loss or damage to persons or property in connection with or appertaining to marine, inland marine, transit, or transportation insurance, including loss or damage to either, arising out of or in connection with the construction, repair, operation, maintenance, or use of the subject matter of such primary insurance, but not including life insurance or surety bonds; but, except as specified in this subdivision, marine insurance shall not include insurance against loss by reason of bodily injury to the person;(19) FINANCIAL GUARANTY INSURANCE. (1) Insurance issued in the form of a surety bond, insurance policy, or, when issued by an insurer, an indemnity contract and any guaranty similar to the foregoing types, against financial loss to an insured claimant, obligee, or indemnitee as a result of any of the following events:(a) Failure of any obligor on any debt instrument or other monetary obligation, including common or preferred stock guaranteed under a surety bond, insurance policy, or indemnity contract, to pay when due principal, interest, premium, dividend, or purchase price of or on such instrument or obligation, when such failure is the result of a financial default or insolvency, regardless of whether such obligation is incurred directly or as guarantor by or on behalf of another obligor that has also defaulted;(b) Changes in the levels of interest rates, whether short or long term, or the differential in interest rates between various markets or products;(c) Changes in the rate of exchange of currency;(d) Inconvertibility of one currency into another for any reason or inability to withdraw funds held in a foreign country resulting from restrictions imposed by a governmental authority;(e) Changes in the value of specific assets or commodities, financial or commodity indices, or price levels in general; or(f) Other events which the Director of Insurance determines are substantially similar to any of the events described in subdivisions (a) through (e) of this subdivision.(2) Financial guaranty insurance shall not include:(a) Insurance of any loss resulting from any event described in subdivisions (19)(1)(a) through (e) of this section if the loss is payable only upon the occurrence of any of the following, as specified in a surety bond, insurance policy, or indemnity contract:(i) A fortuitous physical event;(ii) A failure of or deficiency in the operation of equipment; or(iii) An inability to extract or recover a natural resource;(b) Any individual or schedule public official bond;(c) Any contract bond, including bid, payment, or maintenance bond, or a performance bond when the bond is guarantying the execution of any contract other than a contract of indebtedness or other monetary obligation;(d) Any court bond required in connection with judicial, probate, bankruptcy, or equity proceedings, including waiver, probate, open estate, and life tenant bond;(e) Any bond running to the federal, state, county, or municipal government or other political subdivision as a condition precedent to granting of a license to engage in a particular business or of a permit to exercise a particular privilege;(f) Any loss security bond or utility payment indemnity bond running to a governmental unit, railroad, or charitable organization;(g) Any lease, purchase, and sale or concessionaire surety bond;(h) Credit unemployment insurance, meaning insurance on a debtor, in connection with a specific loan or other credit transaction, to provide payments to creditor in the event of unemployment of the debtor for the installments or other periodic payments becoming due while a debtor is unemployed;(i) Credit insurance, meaning insurance indemnifying manufacturers, merchants, or educational institutions extending credit against loss or damage resulting from nonpayment of debts owed to them for goods or services provided in the normal course of their business;(j) Guaranteed investment contracts issued by life insurance companies which provide that the life insurer itself will make specified payments in exchange for specific premiums or contributions;(k) Funding agreements;(l) Synthetic guaranteed investment contracts;(m) Guaranteed interest contracts;(n) Deposit administration contracts;(o) Surety insurance as specified in subdivision (14) of this section and mortgage guaranty insurance as specified in subdivision (17) of this section;(p) Indemnity contracts or similar guaranties to the extent that they are not otherwise limited or proscribed by Chapter 44 in which a life insurer:(i) Guaranties its obligations or indebtedness or the obligations or indebtedness of a subsidiary of which it owns more than fifty percent, other than a financial guaranty insurance corporation, except that:(A) To the extent that any such obligations or indebtedness are backed by specific assets, such assets shall at all times be owned by the insurer or the subsidiary; and(B) In the case of the guaranty of the obligations or indebtedness of the subsidiary that is not backed by specific assets of the life insurer, such guaranty terminates once the subsidiary ceases to be a subsidiary; or(ii) Guaranties obligations or indebtedness, including the obligation to substitute assets where appropriate, with respect to specific assets acquired by a life insurer in the course of normal investment activities and not for the purpose of resale with credit enhancement, or guaranties obligations or indebtedness acquired by its subsidiary if such assets have been:(A) Acquired by a special purpose entity, the sole purpose of which is to acquire specific assets of the life insurer or the subsidiary and issue securities or participation certificates backed by such assets; or(B) Sold to an independent third party; or(iii) Guaranties obligations or indebtedness of an employee or agent of the life insurer; and(q) Any other form of insurance covering risks which the director determines to be substantially similar to any of the risks described in subdivisions (a) through (p) of this subdivision; and(20) MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE. Insurance upon any risk, including but not limited to legal expense insurance and mechanical breakdown insurance, not included within subdivisions (1) to (19) of this section, and which is a proper subject for insurance, not prohibited by law or contrary to sound public policy, to be determined by the Department of Insurance. SourceLaws 1913, c. 154, § 78, p. 426; R.S.1913, § 3215; Laws 1917, c. 77, § 1, p. 183; Laws 1919, c. 190, tit. V, art. V, § 1, p. 606; C.S.1922, § 7814; Laws 1925, c. 124, § 1, p. 326; Laws 1927, c. 136, § 1, p. 374; C.S.1929, § 44-401; Laws 1935, c. 96, § 1, p. 319; C.S.Supp.,1941, § 44-401; R.S.1943, § 44-201; Laws 1949, c. 138, § 1, p. 358; Laws 1965, c. 253, § 1, p. 712; Laws 1967, c. 261, § 18, p. 693; Laws 1967, c. 262, § 1, p. 699; Laws 1971, LB 767, § 1; Laws 1973, LB 234, § 1; Laws 1978, LB 767, § 1; Laws 1989, LB 92, § 41; Laws 1991, LB 235, § 2; Laws 2004, LB 1047, § 2. AnnotationsLife insurance includes annuity contracts. Bankers Life Ins. Co. v. Laughlin, 160 Neb. 480, 70 N.W.2d 474 (1955).Special provisions in Chapter 60 and orders of the State Railway Commission thereunder, with reference to liability insurance taxicabs are required to carry, take precedence over the general provisions of this section. State v. Mann, 129 Neb. 195, 261 N.W. 173 (1935).Bond guaranteeing fidelity of employees is a form of insurance and subject to the rules applicable to insurance contracts generally. Luther College v. Benson, 126 Neb. 410, 253 N.W. 421 (1934).This section authorizes the formation of insurance companies to transact fourteen distinct classes of insurance. State ex rel. Spillman v. Federated Merchants Mut. Ins. Co., 117 Neb. 98, 219 N.W. 847 (1928).Foreign fraternal beneficiary society, failing to show compliance with its own laws as to right to do business in this state, is not entitled to admission. Grand Lodge, A. O. U. W. v. Ins. Board, 103 Neb. 99, 170 N.W. 617 (1919).Policy extending coverage for accidental death and dismemberment and permanent total disability indemnity not a policy of life insurance. Simmons v. Continental Cas. Co., 410 F.2d 881 (8th Cir. 1969).