2020 Georgia Code
Title 33 - Insurance
Chapter 4 - Actions Against Insurance Companies
§ 33-4-3. Alien or Foreign Insurers, Service of Process Generally

Each authorized alien or foreign insurer shall make the following appointments for service of process:

1. Each insurer shall file with the Commissioner a power of attorney appointing a person who is a resident of this state to receive service of legal process issued against it in this state upon any cause of action arising from its transactions of business in this state. The power of attorney shall be irrevocable and may only be terminated by the filing of a new appointment by the insurer; and
2. Each insurer shall appoint the Commissioner as its attorney to receive service of legal process issued against it in this state upon any cause of action arising from its transactions of business in this state. The appointment shall be irrevocable, shall bind any successor, and shall remain in effect as long as there is in force in this state any contract made by the insurer or obligations arising therefrom. Each insurer at time of application for a certificate of authority shall file with the Commissioner the designation of the name and address of the person to whom process against it served upon the Commissioner is to be forwarded. The insurer may change such designation by a new filing. Service of process upon the Commissioner, however, shall only be made when service cannot be effected in this state by serving the attorney in fact appointed by the insurer as provided under paragraph (1) of this Code section.

(Ga. L. 1887, p. 113, § 10; Civil Code 1895, § 2057; Civil Code 1910, § 2446; Code 1933, § 56-603; Code 1933, § 56-1203, enacted by Ga. L. 1960, p. 289, § 1.)

- Service of process on unauthorized insurers, § 33-5-50 et seq.

The evident purpose of the General Assembly in providing for the appointment of some person resident in this state who should be authorized to acknowledge or receive service of process was to require every foreign insurance company, as a condition precedent to acquiring a right to carry on business in Georgia, to submit itself to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state and the federal courts located therein. Equity Life Ass'n v. Gammon, 118 Ga. 236, 44 S.E. 978 (1903).

It was the purpose of the legislature to remove the hazards of uncertainty and delay attendant upon efforts to perfect service by requiring each foreign insurance company desiring to transact business in this state to appoint in writing some person as its resident agent or attorney in fact upon whom service might be perfected, and to file the power of attorney with the insurance commissioner as authentic information to any person interested. Seminole County Bd. of Educ. v. American Ins. Co., 180 Ga. 661, 180 S.E. 229 (1935).

§§ 2145 and 2146. - Former Civil Code 1895, § 2057 (see O.C.G.A. § 33-4-3) merely required insurance companies doing business in this state to file with the insurance commissioner a written power of attorney appointing some person who shall be authorized to acknowledge service for such company, or upon whom process may be served, and is entirely compatible with former Civil Code 1895, §§ 2145 and 2146 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 33-4-1 and33-4-5). Gaines v. Bankers' Alliance, 113 Ga. 1138, 39 S.E. 502 (1901) (decided under former Civil Code 1895, § 2057).

This section patently applies only to insurance companies authorized to do business in Georgia, and substituted service lies only in an action arising from the insurance company's transaction of business in Georgia. Smith v. Lloyd's of London, 568 F.2d 1115 (5th Cir. 1978).

Former Code 1933, §§ 56-1203 and 56-1204 (see O.C.G.A. §§ 33-4-3 and33-4-4) provide an independent mode of service, which may be pursued by any plaintiff, regardless of whether the company may have an agent in the county where the suit is filed. Seminole County Bd. of Educ. v. American Ins. Co., 180 Ga. 661, 180 S.E. 229 (1935).

- A foreign insurance company which fails to maintain an agency does not, by appointing, or having the Commissioner of Insurance to appoint, an agent upon whom service may be perfected under this section, acquire a fixed residence in the county of such agent's residence. Equity Life Ass'n v. Gammon, 119 Ga. 271, 46 S.E. 100 (1903).

- Failure of the agent upon whom service was perfected to inform the nonresident corporation of the service, thus preventing it from making a defense to the action, is not an unavoidable casualty, accident, or misfortune so as to authorize the vacation of a default judgment. United Bonding Ins. Co. v. Bray Lumber Co., 226 Ga. 765, 177 S.E.2d 227 (1970).

- Service of process on the Insurance Commissioner, who then forwarded a copy to the defendant foreign insurance carrier by registered mail in accordance with O.C.G.A. § 33-4-4, was proper when a power of attorney appointing an agent for service had not been filed. American Bankers Ins. Co. v. Andre, 157 Ga. App. 661, 278 S.E.2d 427 (1981).

- When the person believed to be the defendant's designated agent for service of process refuses to accept such service on the grounds that the person is not the defendant's designated agent, this is an insufficient showing that service could not be made upon the proper agent, and service of process upon the Insurance Commissioner pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 33-4-3 is not justified. Wilkerson v. Voyager Cas. Ins. Co., 171 Ga. App. 834, 321 S.E.2d 346 (1984).

Cited in Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Sampley, 108 Ga. App. 617, 134 S.E.2d 71 (1963).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

ALR.

- Full faith and credit provision as affecting insurance contracts, 41 A.L.R. 1386; 114 A.L.R. 250; 119 A.L.R. 483; 173 A.L.R. 1138.

Statute regarding automobile liability or indemnity insurance of state where injury occurred as applicable to a pol of another state, 137 A.L.R. 656.

Foreign insurance company as subject to service of process in action on policy, 44 A.L.R.2d 416.