Art. 741.Insurer In Receivership

Insurance companies do not go through the same receivership process as ordinary corporations — Louisiana, like most states, regulates insurer insolvency through its own dedicated scheme, reflecting how central an insurer's solvency is to the policyholders who depend on it. Article 741 identifies the proper defendant within that scheme.

For a domestic insurer — one organized under Louisiana law — the receiver a Louisiana court has appointed is the proper defendant in a suit to enforce an obligation of the insurer or of the receiver. For a foreign or alien insurer whose home receivership proceeding sits in another state or country, Louisiana courts appoint an ancillary receiver to handle the insurer's Louisiana-related assets, policyholders, and claims. That ancillary receiver, rather than the out-of-state domiciliary receiver, is the proper defendant here, except where other law provides otherwise.

The distinction matters for anyone pursuing a claim against a troubled insurer: confirm whether the insurer is Louisiana-domiciled, in which case a single receiver typically handles everything, or domiciled elsewhere, in which case the Louisiana ancillary receiver is the one to sue for matters connected to this state.