(1) Any act of entering into a contract of insurance as an insurer, or transacting insurance business in this state, as such term is defined by section 10-3-903, by an unauthorized foreign or alien company is equivalent to and constitutes an appointment by such company of the commissioner to be its true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all lawful process in any action or proceeding against it arising out of a violation of this part 9, or any action which may arise under the terms of this part 9, and the performance of one or more of such acts is signification of its agreement that any such process against it which is so served is of the same legal force and validity as if served upon the company.
(2) (a) Service of such process shall be made by delivering and leaving with the commissioner two copies thereof and the payment to the commissioner of a fee of ten dollars. The commissioner shall promptly mail by certified mail one of the copies of such process to such company at its last known principal place of business and shall keep a record of all process so served upon the commissioner. Such process is sufficient service upon such company if notice of such service and a copy of the process are, within ten days thereafter, sent by certified mail, by or on behalf of the commissioner, to such company at its last-known principal place of business, and the return receipt of the company or, in the event the company refuses to accept such certified mail, the certified mail with its refusal thereon and the affidavit of compliance herewith by or on behalf of the commissioner is filed with the clerk of the court in which such action or proceeding is pending. The date of filing of the return receipt or refusal and affidavit of compliance constitutes the effective date of service and sufficient proof thereof.
(b) Notwithstanding the amount specified for the fee in paragraph (a) of this subsection (2), the commissioner by rule or as otherwise provided by law may reduce the amount of the fee if necessary pursuant to section 24-75-402 (3), C.R.S., to reduce the uncommitted reserves of the fund to which all or any portion of the fee is credited. After the uncommitted reserves of the fund are sufficiently reduced, the commissioner by rule or as otherwise provided by law may increase the amount of the fee as provided in section 24-75-402 (4), C.R.S.
The court in any action or proceeding in which service is made in the manner provided in subsection (2) of this section may, in its discretion, order such postponement as may be necessary to afford such company reasonable opportunity to defend such action or proceeding.
Nothing in this section is to be construed to prevent an unauthorized foreign or aliencompany from filing a motion to quash a writ or to set aside service thereof made in the manner provided in subsection (2) of this section on the ground that such unauthorized company has not done any of the acts referred to in section 10-3-903.
No judgment by default shall be entered in any such action or proceeding until theexpiration of thirty days from the date of the filing of the affidavit of compliance.
Nothing in this section shall limit or affect the right to serve any process, notice, ordemand required or permitted by law to be served upon any company in any other manner permitted by law.
Source: L. 67: p. 870, § 4. C.R.S. 1963: § 72-25-4. L. 71: p. 731, § 1. L. 86: (2) amended, p. 555, § 5, effective July 1. L. 89: (2) amended, p. 437, § 7, effective July 1. L. 98:
amended, p. 1326, § 27, effective June 1.