TITLE XXXVII
INSURANCE

CHAPTER 418
FRATERNAL BENEFIT SOCIETIES

Section 418:35

    418:35 Penalties. –
I. Any person, officer, member or examining physician of any society authorized to do business under this chapter, who shall knowingly or willfully make any false or fraudulent statement or representation in or with reference to any application for membership, or for the purpose of obtaining money from, or benefit in, any society transacting business under this chapter, shall, if a natural person, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and if any other person, be guilty of a felony.
II. Any person who willfully makes a false statement of any material fact or thing in a sworn statement as to the death or disability of a certificate holder, in any such society for the purpose of procuring payment of a benefit named in the certificate of such holder and any person who shall willfully make any false statement in any verified report or declaration under oath required or authorized by this chapter shall be guilty of perjury, and shall be proceeded against and punished as provided by the statutes of this state in relation to the crime of perjury.
III. Any person who shall solicit membership for, or in any manner assists in procuring membership in, any fraternal benefit society not licensed to do business in this state, or who shall solicit membership for, or in any manner assist in procuring membership in any such society not authorized, as herein provided, to do business, as herein defined, in this state, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
IV. Any society, or any officer, agent, or employee thereof, neglecting or refusing to comply with, or violating, any of the provisions of this chapter, the penalty for which neglect, refusal, or violation is not specified in this section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
V. Any society refusing or neglecting to make the report, as provided in this chapter, or to appoint the commissioner as its true and lawful attorney for the purpose of this chapter, shall be excluded from doing business in this state. The commissioner shall, within 60 days after failure to make such report, or in case any such society shall exceed its powers, or shall conduct its business fraudulently, or shall fail to comply with any of the provisions of this chapter, give notice, in writing, to the attorney general, who shall immediately commence an action against any such society to enjoin the same from carrying on any business. No society so enjoined shall have authority to continue business until such report shall be made or overt act or violation complained of shall have been corrected, nor until the costs of such action be paid by it, provided the court shall find that such society was in default as charged. Whereupon, the commissioner shall reinstate such society, and not until then shall such society be allowed to again do business in this state. Any officer, agent or person acting for any society, or subordinate body thereof, in this state, while such society shall be so enjoined or prohibited from doing business pursuant to RSA 418, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

Source. 2003, 182:1, eff. Jan. 1, 2004.