Superseding effective date only — Section 2 definition of "mutual insurance" was amended by 1998-11-12(a), effective May 13, 1998 [per 2006-12-81, retro from March 30, 2006 (Royal Assent), superseding effective date of September 8, 2005 (BC Reg 275/2005)].
Superseding effective date only — Section 2 definition of "supplemental contract" was repealed by 1998-11-12(b), effective May 13, 1998 [per 2006-12-81, retro from March 30, 2006 (Royal Assent), superseding effective date of September 8, 2005 (BC Reg 275/2005)].
Section 2 definition "mutual fire insurance company," or "mutual company," or "company" BEFORE amended by BC Reg 18/2010 under RS1996-440-12, effective January 15, 2010 (BC Reg 18/2010).
"mutual fire insurance company," or "mutual company," or "company" means a company organized in terms of this Act and, save to the extent it may be authorized pursuant to clause (e) of section 8 to promote, and purchase and hold shares in, a company referred to in that clause, empowered only to transact mutual-insurance business;
Section 2 BEFORE amended by 2016-21-17, effective May 19, 2016 (Royal Assent).
Interpretation
2 In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,
"member" means a holder of a subsisting mutual-insurance policy issued by a mutual company;
"mutual fire insurance company" or "mutual company" or "company" means a company organized in terms of this Act and, save to the extent it may be authorized pursuant to clause (e) of section 8 to promote, and purchase and hold shares in, a company referred to in that clause, empowered only to transact mutual-insurance business;
"mutual insurance" means general insurance, as defined in the Financial Institutions Act, given in consideration for a premium note as provided by this Act, with or without a cash payment;
means an instrument given as consideration for insurance whereby the maker undertakes to pay such sum or sums as may be legally demanded by the insurer, but the aggregate of which sums does not exceed an amount specified in the instrument;
"Registrar" means the Registrar of Companies or other person duly authorized to perform his duties under the Companies Act;
"rural" means situate outside the bounds or area of any municipality incorporated as a city or city municipality by or under any general or special Act of the Legislature;
means a holder of a share or shares of guarantee capital issued by a mutual company under this Act;
"Superintendent" means the Superintendent of Financial Institutions.
RS1960-262-2; 1968-53-13; 1989-47-386; 1998-11-12; B.C. Reg. 18/2010.
Section 2 (1) definition of "Registrar" BEFORE amended by 2023-10-710, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
"Registrar" means the Registrar of Companies or other person duly authorized to perform his duties under the Companies Act;
Section 2 definition of "Registrar" BEFORE amended by 2024-10-39, effective April 25, 2024 (Royal Assent).
"Registrar" means the Registrar of Companies or other person duly authorized to perform the Registrar's duties under the Companies Act;
Section 3 (part) BEFORE amended by 2016-5-39,Sch 1, effective March 10, 2016 (Royal Assent).
Certificate of agreement to form company
3 Any thirty or more persons who have each an insurable interest in rural property, real or personal, exposed to damage by fire, who desire to form a mutual fire insurance company under this Act may, subject to the approval of the Superintendent, make, sign, and acknowledge (in duplicate) before some person competent to take the acknowledgment of deeds, and file in the office of the Registrar (who is hereby authorized to receive and file the same), a certificate in writing, in which shall be stated
Section 3 (b) BEFORE amended by 2023-10-711, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
(b) that each person signing will become a member of the company by insuring with the company rural subjects, in which he has an insurable interest, to the amount he sets opposite his name, according to the mutual-insurance plan, and subject to the rates, tariff, and entrance fees to be determined by the provisional directors of the company. The amount of such insurance which the provisional directors can accept shall not be less than sixty thousand dollars of risks;
Section 3 (d) BEFORE amended by 2024-10-40, effective April 25, 2024 (Royal Assent).
(d) the name of the company, which shall contain the words "mutual fire," and shall be subject to approval by the Registrar;
Section 4 BEFORE amended by 2016-21-18, effective May 19, 2016 (Royal Assent).
Publication of certificate and call of first general meeting
4 The Registrar, on receiving such certificate in duplicate, shall fix the date and place of the first general meeting of the company, and cause a notice of incorporation to be published in the next and three following issues of the Gazette, in or as near as may be to the form following, namely:—
| The Mutual Fire Insurance Companies Act | |
| Certificate filed for incorporation of the Mutual Fire Insurance Company of this date. | |
| Registered office in , Province of British Columbia. | |
| The guarantee stock to be issued is $ , in shares of $ each [or no guarantee stock is meantime to be issued]. | |
| The following are the provisional directors of the Company, namely: [insert names and addresses]. | |
| The liability of the members (and shareholders, if any) is limited. | |
| The first general meeting of the Company will be held in on , the day of , 19 , at the hour of o'clock in . | |
| ________________________ Registrar of Companies. | |
| Victoria, B.C., 19 . | |
RS1960-262-4.
Section 8 (e) BEFORE amended by 2016-21-19, effective May 19, 2016 (Royal Assent).
(e) If authorized by resolution adopted after due notice at a general meeting of the company, it may promote, and purchase and hold shares in, a company the objects of which are confined to the carrying-on of the business of an insurance agent for all or any class of insurance, other than life insurance.
Superseding effective date only — Section 15 was repealed by 1998-11-13, effective May 13, 1998 [per 2006-12-81, retro from March 30, 2006 (Royal Assent), superseding effective date of September 8, 2005 (BC Reg 275/2005)].
Section 16 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-712, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Renewal of contracts
16 Any contract may be renewed at the discretion of the board of directors by renewal receipts instead of a new policy, on the insured paying the required cash proportion of his premium note, but such renewal shall be effected before the actual lapse of the period of the principal contract.
RS1960-262-16.
Section 18 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-713, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Premium notes
18 Every member shall, before he receives his policy, deposit with the company a premium note payable on demand, or payable partly by fixed payment and partly on demand, to the company for the sum of money to be determined by a tariff or classification of risks established by the directors. The directors may require that the premium note be endorsed by a guarantor, to their satisfaction, before it is accepted. The member shall also pay as an entrance fee such proportion of his premium note in cash as may be determined by the directors, but such entrance fee shall not exceed fifteen per centum of the whole.
RS1960-262-18.
Section 20 BEFORE re-enacted by 2023-10-714, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Assessment on premium notes
20 In the event of the directors levying an assessment on the premium notes, either where there are no fixed payments, or where such levy is necessary over and above the amount of the fixed payments, the assessment shall become due and payable in thirty days after notice thereof has been mailed to the member or person or persons who have given the premium note, directed to his or their last-known postal address. Failure to pay the assessment within thirty days after the same became due may, in the option of the directors, nullify the policy of insurance.
RS1960-262-20.
Section 21 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-715, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Nullity of the policy not to cancel note
21 A declaration in the terms of the last two preceding sections that the policy of insurance is nullified shall in no way relieve the member or other guarantor or guarantors of the premium note of his or their liabilities for the sums then due as fixed payments or assessments, nor for any share of any further losses or expenses the company may incur during the term of the contract unless the directors in their discretion decide otherwise, and the directors may recover the sums due, or to become due, and expenses by suit in the Provincial Court of the district where the registered office of the company is situate.
RS1960-262-21; 1975-57-44.
Section 26 BEFORE repealed by 2006-12-69, effective December 31, 2006.
Reserve fund
26 Every company shall maintain a reserve fund at the rate of two hundred and fifty dollars for every one hundred thousand dollars of the first one million dollars at risk, and fifteen hundred dollars for each additional one million dollars or part thereof. The fund shall be formed from assessments upon the premium notes at a rate not exceeding fifteen per centum and not less than five per centum of the original amount of the notes and from such moneys as the directors may set aside out of the surplus of the company's revenue over its expenditure, and if at any time the fund is less than the amount prescribed, the directors shall within three months from such time levy an assessment to make good the deficiency. The directors may invest the fund and from time to time pay therefrom the claims and demands that cannot be met from the ordinary receipts of the company.
RS1960-262-26.
Section 27 BEFORE repealed by 2006-12-69, effective December 31, 2006.
Reserve fund to be the property of company
27 The reserve fund shall be the property of the company as a whole, and no member has any right to claim any share or interest therein in respect of any payment contributed by him towards it; but in the event of the company being wound up and being possessed of an existing reserve fund, the then members are entitled to divide the same among themselves pro rata according to the amount of their premium notes with the company.
RS1960-262-27.
Section 34 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-716, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Forfeiture for non-payment of calls
34 If default is made by a shareholder in payment of any call upon his shares for a period of two months after the call is due, the director may, on giving one month's notice to the shareholder by registered letter mailed to his last-known postal address, declare the shares of such defaulter, and all sums previously paid thereon, to be forfeited to the company, and they may thereafter, unless within the said one month the amount due on the call is paid to the company, either cancel the shares, or sell and reissue them at such price or prices as they may deem sufficient and for the benefit of the company only; or in the option of the directors they may sue for and compel payment of the unpaid calls on the shares.
RS1960-262-34.
Section 36 BEFORE amended by BC Reg 18/2010 under RS1996-440-12, effective January 15, 2010 (BC Reg 18/2010).
Appointment of special auditor by the Supreme Court
36 Any fifteen members, or members and shareholders, may at any time petition the the Supreme Court to appoint an auditor to audit and report on the books of the company, provided the petitioners deposit the sum of two hundred dollars with the Minister of Finance as a guarantee of good faith, which sum shall be held to the order of the auditor. Thereupon the the Supreme Court may appoint an auditor accordingly, who shall have free access to and carefully examine all the books of the company and make a report to the the Supreme Court, to the board of directors, and to the petitioners; and the Supreme Court shall also make such award as to the expenses of the audit as the Supreme Court deems right in the circumstances, and the petitioners, directors, officers, and company are all bound by such award and findings.
RS1960-262-36; 1993-38-27.
Section 41 (3) BEFORE amended by 2023-10-717, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
(3) Where the company or a member terminates a contract of mutual insurance, or a contract of mutual insurance expires and is not renewed, the member insured thereby ipso facto ceases to be a member on the date of the termination or expiration, as the case may be, save that he shall continue to be liable, as if he were a member, for any sum due in respect of his premium note and any other sum by way of premium due to the company and for losses insured against by the company and occurring before that date.
Section 43 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-719, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Rights of subscribers for guarantee stock
43 Each subscriber for shares of guarantee stock of a mutual company, who is not otherwise a member of the company, has as a shareholder, all the powers and privileges of a member of the company, and he is entitled to take part in and vote at all meetings of the company in person or by proxy in favour of another member or shareholder of the company.
RS1960-262-43.
Section 45 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-720, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Members to have one vote
45 At all general meetings all members and shareholders in good standing shall have one vote each, but they may vote in person or by proxy in favour of another member or shareholder. The chairman at all meetings shall have a casting-vote only in case of an equality of votes on a division. The election of directors and all other officers shall be by ballot.
RS1960-262-45.
Section 47 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-721, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Qualifications of directors
47 No person is eligible for the office of director, except as hereinafter provided, who is not a holder in his own right of a subsisting policy of the company for at least one thousand dollars, or of shares in the company's guarantee stock to the amount of two hundred dollars, par value.
RS1960-262-47.
Section 48 (1) BEFORE amended by 2023-10-722, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
(1) The manager of a mutual company may also be elected a director, though he may not be a member, and he may be paid an annual salary or he may be remunerated for his services in such other form as the other directors may determine.
Section 49 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-723, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Applicant for insurance not a member
49 (1) No applicant for mutual insurance shall be deemed a member of the company, or is entitled to be elected as a director of the company, or is entitled to take part in any of the company's meetings, until his policy of insurance has been issued to him by the board of directors.
(2) Where the directors have conferred power upon the manager to issue policies of insurance, he may make a contract of insurance for a period not exceeding fourteen days with any applicant for mutual insurance, and a person so insured is liable in respect of losses insured against by the company and occurring during the period of his contract as if he had been admitted as a member.
RS1960-262-49.
Section 57 BEFORE amended by 2023-10-725, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Directors to fill vacancy at board
57 In the event of a vacancy arising on the board of directors through the death, insolvency, disqualification, or resignation of any of the directors, or through the absence from three consecutive meetings of the board of any member, without leave of the board, which shall ipso facto void his rights, the vacancy so arising shall be filled by the directors, whose appointee shall hold office until the next annual general meeting of the company.
RS1960-262-57.
Section 60 BEFORE re-enacted by 2023-10-726, effective March 30, 2023 (Royal Assent).
Treasurer to give security
60 The treasurer, or manager, or secretary of a mutual company having charge of the funds of the company shall give security to the satisfaction of the board of directors in an amount to be fixed by a general meeting, or by the directors, but not to be less than two thousand dollars, for the faithful discharge of his duties.
RS1960-262-60.
Section 64 BEFORE amended by 2006-12-70, effective December 31, 2006.
64 The receiver may use the reserve or guarantee funds if necessary to effect an equitable reinsurance of all risks held by the company, whether held under the premium-note plan or a short-term policy on the cash plan.
RS1960-262-64.