(a) The issuance and delivery of a policy of insurance or contract of insurance or indemnity to any person in this State or the collection of a premium thereon by an insurer not licensed in this State, as herein required, irrevocably constitutes the director and any successor of his in office the true and lawful attorney in fact upon whom service of any and all processes, pleadings, actions, or suits arising out of the policy or contract in behalf of the insured may be made.
(b) Service of process in this action is made by delivering to and leaving with the director or some person in apparent charge of his office two copies of it and by payment to the director of a fee of ten dollars, of which five dollars must be retained by the director to offset the costs he incurs in service of process and of which five dollars must be deposited to the credit of the general fund of the state.
(c) The director or his designee shall immediately mail by registered mail one of the copies of the process to the defendant at its last known principal place of business and shall keep a record of all process served upon him. The service of process is sufficient if: (1) notice of the service and a copy of the process are sent within ten days thereafter by registered mail by the plaintiff's attorney to the defendant at its last known principal place of business, and (2) the defendant's receipt or a receipt issued by the post office with which the letter is registered, showing the name of the sender of the letter and the name and address of the person to whom the letter is addressed, and the affidavit of the plaintiff's attorney showing compliance herewith are filed with the clerk of court in which the action is pending by the date the defendant is required to appear or within any further time which the court may allow.
(d) No plaintiff is entitled to a judgment by default, a judgment with leave to prove damages, or a judgment pro confesso under this section until the expiration of thirty days from the date of filing of the affidavit of compliance.
(e) Nothing in this section limits or abridges the right to serve any process, notice, order, or demand upon any person or insurer in any other manner permitted by law.
HISTORY: Former 1976 Code Section 38-52-50 [1947 (45) 322; 1952 Code Section 37-265; 1962 Code Section 37-265; 1978 Act No. 457 Section 1] recodified as Section 38-25-520 by 1987 Act No. 155, Section 1; 1988 Act No. 366, Section 3; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 604.