State ex rel. Hart v. The Commercial Insurance Co.

• Decision Date: 04 June 1902
• Docket Number: 19,762
• Citation: 64 N.E. 466,158 Ind. 680
• Parties: The State, ex rel. Hart, Auditor, v. The Commercial Insurance Company, of New Albany
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

64 N.E. 466

158 Ind. 680

The State, ex rel. Hart, Auditor, v. The Commercial Insurance Company, of New Albany

No. 19,762

Supreme Court of Indiana

June 4, 1902

From Marion Superior Court; Vinson Carter, Judge.

Mandamus by State on the relation of William H. Hart, Auditor of State, against the Commercial Insurance Company to compel the latter to file annual reports and submit to examination. From a judgment denying the writ, relator appeals.

Affirmed.

W. L Taylor, Attorney-General, Merrill Moores and C. C. Hadley for appellant.

C. F Coffin, O. B. Jameson and F. A. Joss, for appellee.

Jordan, J. Dowling, J., did not participate in the decision of this case.

OPINION

Jordan, J.

The relator, as Auditor of State, instituted this action to obtain a writ of mandate against appellee to compel it to file in his office annual reports, and further to permit him, as such auditor, to have access to all of its books and papers, for the purpose of examining every detail of its business in the interest of its policy holders. The petition for the writ discloses that appellee, "The Commercial Insurance Company of New Albany, Indiana," was originally incorporated under a special act of the legislature, entitled, "An act to incorporate the New Albany Insurance Company", approved February 2, 1832, Acts 1832, p. 160; that the name of this company was subsequently changed, by a proceeding in court, to "The Commercial Insurance Company of New Albany, Indiana;" that said company is engaged in doing a fire insurance business in this State, and since March 2, 1899, has wholly failed and refused to file annual reports in the office of the Auditor of State, and has failed and refused to permit the relator, as such auditor, to examine its books, papers, etc., all in violation of the provisions of an act of the legislature approved March 2, 1899. An alternative writ was issued reciting the facts alleged in the petition, and thereby appellee was commanded to file in the office of the relator, "the duly verified statement required by law," and to grant relator access to all its books and papers "for the purpose of an examination into every detail of the company's business," etc. Appellee successfully demurred to the alternative writ, and the court rendered its final judgment denying a peremptory writ of mandate. These rulings of the court are assigned as errors. The relator bases his demand for the right which he claims in this action upon an act of the legislature approved March 2, 1899 (Acts 1899, p. 220), entitled, "An act to require insurance companies organized by special act of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana to file annual reports with the Auditor of State, and declaring an emergency." The first section of this act is as follows: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, that every company created by special act of the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, for the purpose of transacting the business of insurance, shall on or before the third Monday of January of each year, furnish the said auditor with a statement, verified by the oaths of the president and secretary of said company, and signed by a majority of the directors of such company, which statement shall show:" (Here follow the several specifications of what the required statement shall exhibit.) Section 2 provides the amount which the Auditor of State shall charge and collect for the State of Indiana, for an examination of the charter, and for the examination of the statement and investigation of evidence of the investment of the assets of such company, in accordance with the provisions of the respective charters, and further provides that the provisions of the act shall not apply to "Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Associations organized under special act since the year 1852 and doing business strictly under the assessment plan." Section 3 reads as follows: "The Auditor of State shall examine, or cause to be examined, by some competent and disinterested person every detail of the business of any special charter company transacting business of insurance in this State whenever, in his judgment, such examination is required for the interest of the policy holders of such company; and, for the purpose of such examination, has power, either in person or by one or more competent and disinterested examiners by him commissioned in writing." Section 4 declares an emergency for the taking effect of the act.

The principal proposition involved in this appeal relates to the question as to whether § 3 is properly embraced in the act under its title. The Attorney-General, in behalf of appellant, affirms that the title of the act in question is sufficient to authorize the provisions enacted by § 3, under the requirements of article 4, § 19 of the State's Constitution, which provides: "Every act shall embrace but one subject and matters properly connected therewith, which subject shall be expressed in the title. But if any subject shall be embraced in an act which shall not be expressed in the title, such act shall be void only as to so much thereof as shall not be expressed in the title."

This contention, counsel for appellee deny, and with much force contend that the relator is not authorized under the act to subject the books and papers of appellee and every detail of its business to an examination by him in the interest of its policy holders, and in support of this contention it is claimed that § 3, under which the relator asserts his right to make an examination, is not properly a part of the statute, for the reason that it has been incorporated therein in violation of the provisions of the above section of the Constitution. Counsel for appellant further contend that the relator is justified in his demand for an examination of the books and papers and business of appellee under an act of the legislature of 1865, which relates to foreign insurance companies, by virtue of the amendments of the original act as made in 1877.

It is evident that the matter embraced in § 3 is not the subject of the act as expressed and disclosed by its title. A reading of the title fully reveals that the subject of the legislation is to require "insurance companies organized by special act to file annual reports with the Auditor of State." The question then arises, is the matter embraced in § 3 properly connected with the subject expressed within the meaning of the above section of the Constitution? If the act had been entitled as one either relating to or concerning insurance companies organized by special act etc., quite a different question would be presented, for such a...